  The NIO1 experiment hosts a flexible RF H- ion source, developed by INFN-LNL
and Consorzio RFX to improve the present concepts for the production and
acceleration of negative ions. The source is also used to benchmark the
instrumentation dedicated to the ITER neutral beam test facility. Many
diagnostics are installed in NIO1 to characterize the source and the extracted
negative ion beam. Among them, Beam Emission Spectroscopy (BES) has been used
in NIO1 to measure the divergence and the uniformity of the beam, together with
the fraction of beam ions which was neutralized inside the acceleration system.
The diagnostic method is based on the analysis of the Doppler shifted
$H_\alpha$ photons emitted by the fast beam particles and collected along a
line of sight. The article presents the experimental setup and the analysis
algorithms of the BES diagnostic, together with a discussion of the first
measurements and of their correlation with the operational parameters.
