Understanding molecular negative ion production for use in pathology

The curing of cancer requires cellular level tools to map how cells are changing. These maps are made using ionbeams which are scanned across cells to remove material which is analysed at the atomic and molecular level.Ion beams are produced from plasma sources, but much of their operation is not understood. The project aims toincrease the yield of molecular negative ion sources by improving our understanding of the formation of ion beamsfrom plasma sources and expand our knowledge of molecular negative ion generation in plasma environmentsleading to brighter ion beams. These improved ion beams are expected to enable inexpensive and fast cellularlevel pathology at even small hospitals to tackle cancer for the benefit of society.