Patent ID: 7692139

Claim:
A system for commensurate cusp field for effective ion beam neutralization, comprising: a beamguide configured to transport an ion beam through a dipole field; a first array of magnets and a second array of magnets configured to generate a multi-cusp magnetic field, the first array of magnets being on a first side of the ion beam and the second array of magnets being on a second opposing side of the ion beam, each magnet of the first and second array of magnets having a long dimension parallel to a direction of travel of the ion beam and positioned at a selected width position along a width of the ion beam so that each magnet of the first array of magnets has a corresponding magnet of the second array of magnets at the selected width position having a similar polarity; and a charged particle source having a plurality of apertures configured to inject charged particles into the ion beam, wherein each of the plurality of apertures are positioned at the selected width position of a lesser plurality of the plurality of magnets of the first array along the long dimension of the lesser plurality of magnets so the multi-cusp magnetic field and the dipole field are substantially aligned at the plurality of apertures to generate magnetic pockets to accept the injected charged particles from the charged particle source and direct flow of the charged particles along the magnetic pockets in a direction parallel to the direction of travel of the ion beam.