Study of particle acceleration of Cu plasma

The experimental results of particle acceleration by plasma generated using a XeCl laser are described. The laser ion source developed is able to accelerate specific particles and to overcome the plasma effects which occur specially during the application of the accelerating voltage. In order to successfully execute this experiment, plasma expansion was highly necessary before the accelerating voltage application. For this goal an almost hermetic expanding chamber with a hole at its end, used as extraction electrode, was made. In this way arcs were eliminated and specific particles propagate in the drift tube. Time-of-flight and current intensity measurements of the ion beam have been done. The output signal, measured at 147 cm from the target, resulted modulated on ion mass-to-charge ratio and its maximum current was 220 mA at 18 kV accelerating voltage. Under the same accelerating value the bunch charge was estimated to be 4.2 nC. © 2004 American Institute of Physics. [DOI: 10.1063/1.1809285]