Orion project: Acceleration of cluster ions and highly charged biomolecules from 10 MeV to 1 GeV

Cluster ions-projectiles have been revealed to be very efficient to drive energy or momentum on a solid surface. The impact of massive cluster is able to produce high energy density on a narrow area. Astonishing non linear effect has been observed [1] in the yield of secondary ions emission desorbed from a surface bombarded by molecular or clusters ions. The ORION project consists in accelerating with the Orsay Tandem, cluster ions and in a further step, charged biomolecules, in order to investigate these processes in a velocity range which correspond to their maximum of efficiency (a few keV per mass unit). This paper presents preliminary attemps and first results in creating C60 and C70 molecular ion beams using the Orsay Tandem accelerating structure.