Energy loss of light ions in metals

On the basis of dielectric formalism the analytical expressions for the calculation of close collision and plasmon excitation contributions to the total energy loss of light ions (protons, α-particles) on valence electrons of metals have been obtained. The importance of accounting for the relation between the mentioned contributions while interpreting the results on ion dechannelling due to their multiple scattering on the crystal valence electrons has been pointed out. The ratio of the total energy loss for the best channelled light ions to the energy loss in the non- oriented target in the energy range of E ≈ 100 keV-500 MeV has been calculated.     

Energy loss by keV ions in silicon

Using silicon photodiodes with an ultrathin passivation layer, the average total energy lost to silicon target electrons (electronic stopping) by incident low energy ions and the recoil target atoms they generate is directly measured. We find that the total electronic energy deposition and the ratio of the total nuclear to electronic stopping powers for the incident ions and their recoils each follow a simple, universal representation, thus enabling systematic prediction of ion-induced effects in silicon. We also observe a velocity threshold at 0.05 a.u. for the onset of electronic stopping.     

Energy loss of heavy ions in carbon foils

The energy loss of Ar, Ti, Kr, Xe, Pb and U ions in the energy range from 0.2 to 1.4 MeV/amu in carbon foils was measured. The results are compared with theoretical and semiempirical estimations.     

Energy loss of light ions in polypropylene absorber foils

The energy loss of Li, C and O ions in polypropylene absorber foils has been measured using 15 UD Pelletron Accelerator facility at Inter University Accelerator Centre (IUAC), New Delhi, India. The actual experiment has been performed in low flux chamber attached to the General Purpose Scattering Chamber (GPSC). These experimental energy loss values have been compared with the computed values based on various empirical/semi-empirical formulations. Some interesting trends have been observed.      

Energy loss of light ions in different carbon compounds

Experimental data on the energy loss of light H, Li, B, and N ions in methane and H and N ions in benzene vapor have been presented for the range of ion energies from 0.01 to 0.6 MeV/nucleon. It has been shown that the energy loss in the compounds does not follow the addition rule for small ion energies, which indicates the necessity of taking into account the chemical bonds of the molecular targets. The deviation from the addition rule has been experimentally found to increase with the nuclear charge of the projectile ion.     

第四讲 超强激光脉冲与等离子体相互作用中高能离子的产生

近几年来，由于高功率激光技术的不断发展，利用超强激光脉冲与等离子体相互作用产生高能离子束的研究得到了极大推动．实验和理论模拟均发现，在超强激光脉冲与等离子体相互作用过程中，可以产生高亮度、小尺寸、方向性好的高能质子束和高能重离子束．这种基于超强激光的高能离子源在先进离子束成像技术、惯性约束聚变混合“快点火”、新型台面离子加速器以及医疗等方面都有很诱人的应用前景．文章主要介绍了超强激光与固体靶相互作用中高能离子束（尤其是质子束）的加速机制、高能离子束特性、常用测量方法及其潜在应用，并对最新的研究进展进行了简单介绍．     

On the theory of electron capture and loss in collisions of accelerated ions

Based on the stationary multichannel scattering theory, the processes of one-electron charge exchange in collisions of multiply charged ions have been considered for the range of high energies of the colliding particles in view of the Coulomb interaction of the nuclei. Numerical calculations have been performed to find the cross-section for electron capture in scattering of high-energy hydrogen-like ions in atomic hydrogen. It has been shown that the Coulomb interaction of nuclei substantially increases the capture cross-section compared to the result predicted by the Brinkmann-Kramers approximation. __________ Translated from Izvestiya Vysshikh Uchebnykh Zavedenii, Fizika, No. 3, pp. 77–81, March, 2008.     

Generation of collimated beams of relativistic ions in laser-plasma interactions

A method is proposed for generating collimated beams of fast ions in laser-plasma interactions. Two-dimensional and three-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations show that the ponderomotive force expels electrons from the plasma region irradiated by a laser pulse. The ions with unneutralized electric charge that remain in this region are accelerated by Coulomb repulsive forces. The ions are focused by tailoring the target and also as a result of pinching in the magnetic field produced by the electric current of fast ions.     

Energy loss straggling in collisions of fast finite-size ions with atoms

The influence of ion size on straggling of energy losses by fast partially stripped ions is studied using the nonperturbative approach based on the eikonal approximation. It is shown that such a consideration of collisions of ions with complex atoms can lead to considerable corrections in calculating root-mean-square straggling of energy losses by fast ions compared to the results obtained for point ions. The root-mean-square straggling of energy losses are calculated for bromide and iodine ions in collisions with copper, silver, and aluminum atoms. It is shown that allowance for the size of the electron “coat” of an ion noticeably improves the agreement with experimental data.     

Energy loss of relativistic, multiply charged ions in an electron plasma

A simple equation is derived for calculating the energy loss of a relativistic, multiply charged ion moving in an electron plasma in the region where the Born approximation fails. The contribution of the energy losses from collisions with solitary electrons is calculated using the exact Dirac equation for relativistic Coulomb scattering. Zh. Tekh. Fiz. 68, 9–12 (February 1998)     

Energy loss straggling measurements for helium ions in Mylar and polypropylene polymeric foils

In the present contribution, we report results on energy straggling of He ions penetrating Mylar and polypropylene thin polymeric foils. The measurements were performed in the 900–3000 keV incident particle energy range by using the indirect transmission technique developed previously. The experimental straggling data are corrected to consider the roughness effects due to target thickness inhomogeneity. As expected, the roughness contribution to straggling is more important for helium than for proton ions and decreases as the ion energy increases. At low velocities, (<500 keV/amu), the variation of the experimental energy straggling results differs strongly from predictions based on Bohr’s formalism, and with increasing energies, the experimental results approach gradually the Bohr values.     

Observation of terahertz emission from a laser-plasma accelerated electron bunch crossing a plasma-vacuum boundary

Coherent radiation in the 0.3-3 THz range has been generated from femtosecond electron bunches at a plasma-vacuum boundary via transition radiation. The bunches produced by a laser-plasma accelerator contained 1.5 nC of charge. The THz energy per pulse within a limited 30 mrad collection angle was 3-5 nJ and scaled quadratically with bunch charge, consistent with coherent emission. Modeling indicates that this broadband source produces about 0.3 microJ per pulse within a 100 mrad angle, and that increasing the transverse plasma size and electron beam energy could provide more than 100 microJ/pulse.     

Fusion of electron beam accelerated ions

The enhancement of neutron output when a pulsed electron beam is injected into a plasma is interpreted in terms of acceleration of a small fraction (δn/n) ≈ 10^-7 of plasma ions to MeV energies.     

Surface contribution to the energy loss of slow ions

We calculate the stopping power and the energy lost by a low energy ion approaching and crossing the surface of a semi-infinite medium at normal incidence. The specular reflection model is used to describe the behaviour of the medium. The contribution to the energy loss due to surface and bulk excitations is analyzed in terms of the excitation of electron-hole pairs and damped plasmons.     

Correlation effects of multiple charged accelerated ions in Cherenkov radiation

The correlation effects in Cherenkov radiation associated with fluctuations of multiple charged accelerated ions in the medium are considered. The contribution of additional correlation into the radiation is determined by the ion charge mean-square deviation from its equilibrium value and defines the non-zero radiation yield as the threshold conditions are not fulfilled. The numerical estimations of the yield of Au ion radiation in the optical and X-ray frequency range in carbon are presented.     

Energy loss in quantum tunnelling

The energy dissipated during the quantum decay of a metastable system which interacts with an environment at zero temperature is considered. It is found that quantum effects reduce the energy loss as compared to simple semiclassical estimates and that the decay is always possible for energetical reasons. Explicit results for the decay rate are obtained from the functional integral of the partition function.     

Energy loss of light ions with allowance for the presence of metastable particles in the ion beam

The change in the average ion charge due to the presence of particles in metastable states in beams of helium-like ions has been studied. The charge distributions and average charges have been calculated for ions with nuclear charges Z = 3?7 and a velocity of 3.65 au in nitrogen. The previously obtained data on the cross sections of loss and capture of electrons by metastable ions and ions in the ground state were used in the calculations. It is shown that the presence of metastable particles in ion beams leads to an increase in the average charge and energy loss for all considered ions.     

Mutagenic effect of accelerated heavy ions on bacterial cells

The heavy ion accelerators of the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research were used to study the regularities and mechanisms of formation of different types of mutations in prokaryote cells. The induction of direct (lac⁻, ton B⁻, col B) mutations for Esherichia coli cells and reverse his⁻ → His⁺ mutations of Salmonella typhimurium, Bacillus subtilis cells under the action of radiation in a wide range of linear energy transfer (LET) was studied. The regularities of formation of gene and structural (tonB trp-) mutations for Esherichia coli bacteria under the action of accelerated heavy ions were studied. It was demonstrated that the rate of gene mutations as a function of the dose under the action of Γ rays and accelerated heavy ions is described by linear-quadratic functions. For structural mutations, linear “dose-effect” dependences are typical. The quadratic character of mutagenesis dose curves is determined by the “interaction” of two independent “hitting” events in the course of SOS repair of genetic structures. The conclusion made was that gene mutations under the action of accelerated heavy ions are induced by δ electron regions of charged particle tracks. The methods of SOS chromotest, SOS lux test, and λ prophage induction were used to study the regularities of SOS response of cells under the action of radiations in a wide LET range. The following proposition was substantiated: the molecular basis for formation of gene mutations are cluster single-strand DNA breaks, and that for structural mutations, double-strand DNA breaks. It was found out that the LET dependence of the relative biological efficiency of accelerated ions is described by curves with a local maximum. It was demonstrated that the biological efficiency of ionizing radiations with different physical characteristics on cells with different genotype, estimated by the lethal action, induction of gene and deletion mutations, precision excision of transposons, is determined by the specific features of energy transfer of the radiations that affect the character of induced DNA damage, and the efficiency inducible and constitutive cell repair systems. The growth of relative biological efficiency of heavy charged particles is determined by the growth of the damage yield of the DNA participating in the formation of radiation-induced effects, and higher efficiency of inducible repair systems. It was established that the LET value (L _max) for which the maximum (according to the applied irradiation criteria) coefficients of relative biological efficiency are observed varies depending on the character of the registered radiation induced effect. It was demonstrated that for gene mutations and induction of precision excision of mobile elements the values of L _max are realized in a LET range of ≈20 keV/μm. For lethal effects of irradiation and induction of deletion mutations the value of L _max is ≈ 100 and 50 keV/μm, respectively. The differences in the L _max for the studied radiation gene effectis are determined by the different type of DNA damage participating in the mutation process. A molecular model of the formation of gene mutations in Escherichia coli cells under the action of ionizing radiation was proposed. Basic DNA radiation damage and main repair ways were considered in the framework of this model. The basis is the idea of the decisive role of mutagenic, error-prone, branch of SOS repair in fixing premutation DNA damage into point mutations. It was demonstrated that the central mechanism in this process is the formation of an inducible multi-enzymatic complex including the DNA polymerase V (Umu C), RecA-protease, SSB proteins, subunits of DNA polymerase III, performing erroneous DNA synthesis on the damaged matrix. A mathematical model of induction of gene mutations under ultraviolet cell irradiation was developed based on the molecular model.     

Energy spectrum of particles accelerated in relativistic collisionless shocks

We analytically study diffusive particle acceleration in relativistic, collisionless shocks. We find a simple relation between the spectral index s and the anisotropy of the momentum distribution along the shock front. Based on this relation, we obtain s=(3beta(u)-2beta(u)beta(2)(d)+beta(3)(d))/(beta(u)-beta(d)) for isotropic diffusion, where beta(u) (beta(d)) is the upstream (downstream) fluid velocity normalized to the speed of light. This result is in agreement with previous numerical determinations of s for all (beta(u),beta(d)), and yields s=38/9 in the ultrarelativistic limit. The spectrum-anisotropy connection is useful for testing numerical studies and constraining anisotropic diffusion results. It suggests that the spectrum is highly sensitive to the form of the diffusion function for particles traveling along the shock front.