Ion Acceleration with Intense Linear Electron Beams

Abstract

The intriguing aspect of these experiments is that as little as one sixth of the elec- tron beam pulse is used to bunch and accelerate the ions at which time the acceleration appears to be rattler abruptly terminated. In this paper we address possible reasons for the cutoff of the acceleration process and suggest experi- ments to check the speculations. Also, we briefly men- tion recent developments in the technology of intense electron beam generation and transport, and indicate their relevance to other ion acceleration proposals using linear electron beam geometries. experi~~~~?r~~$~~ '-' however acceleration in the lontext of we shall consider the tl;e LPM.' This model, although speculative, does agree with presently estab- lished features of the experimental data. Keferring to Figure 2, we trace the history of the acceleration pro- cess.