Laser ion source for heavy ion accelerators

Abstract

The development, construction, and operation of laser ion sources for different types of heavy ion accelerators at ITEP are presented. A number of general physical problems connected with the special plasma heating regime by means of a powerful CO2 laser were under consideration. The results of experimental measurements show that the currents up to ≂103 mA per pulses about 5–15 μs and emittance ≤3 πcm mrad have been achieved for multicharged ions of a large number of elements. The recent results of laser ion source operation on the ITEP Van-de-Graaf facility and on the 2-MV heavy ion synchrotron injector are reported.