An improved AISHa ion source for new clinical protocols, nuclear-physics and material experiments

. - Hadrontherapy is a well-known clinical practice to treat an increasing number of oncological pathologies, in particular inoperable or radioresistant cancers, when it is essential to minimize the dose absorbed by healthy tissue, as in pediatrics or brain tumors. Due to its unique peculiarities, the ECR ion sources able to produce multiply charged ion beams with low ripple, high stability and reproducibility, are the most suitable choice for medical applications, but also to nuclear physics and material experiments. In the framework of the INSpIRIT project, in collaboration with the Centro Nazionale di Adroterapia Oncologica (CNAO), an improved Advanced Ion Source for Hadrontherapy (AISHa) was assembled in Pavia in order to increase the CNAO potential in the field of experimental and industrial research, particle physics, and with the long-term goal of introducing new ionic species into clinical practice such as helium, oxygen and later also iron and lithium useful for bio-spatial research. The key peculiarity and the experimental results of the AISHa ion source will be presented together with an overview of the INSpIRIT project.