This chapter provides an overview of the basic requirements for ion sources designed and operated in radioactive ion beam facilities. The facilities where these sources are operated exploit the isotope separation online (ISOL) technique, in which a t
arget is combined with an ion source to maximize the secondary beam intensity and chemical element selectivity. Three main classes of sources are operated, namely surface-type ion sources, arc discharge-type ion sources, and finally radio-frequency-heated plasma-type ion sources.
