Interaction of intense laser pulses with atomic clusters at different gas densities

The interaction of intense femtosecond laser pulses with rare gas clusters was studied experimentally, the time-of-flight spectra of ions from exploding clusters at different gas densities have been measured. It is found that while the relative components of ions in low and high energy of the ion energy spectrum decrease with the increase of the gas density, the average ion energies are the same for different gas densities, which indicates that the effect of gas density on laser-cluster interaction is not important under our experimental conditions.     

RFQ Cooler and Buncher

The study of nuclides far from the valley of stability in recent years, with various spectroscopic methods, sets new demands for the handling of the ion beams. A relative old technique that was first proved to be feasible by Paul and his coworkers has been revived by using electromagnetic fields to prevent the low energy ions from losing in the gas. In the past few years, emittance improvement of low-energy radioactive ion beams has gained a lot of interest and several devices for an emittance improver and buncher have been constructed.     

Discharge characteristics of the DUHOCAMIS with a high magnetic bottle-shaped field

For the purpose of producing high intensity, multiply charged metal ion beams, the dual hollow cathode ion source for metal ions （DUHOCAMIS） was derived from the hot cathode Penning ion source combined with the hollow cathode sputtering experiments in 2007. To investigate the behavior of this discharge geometry in a stronger magnetic bottle-shaped field, a new test bench for DUHOCAMIS with a high magnetic bottle-shaped field up to 0.6 T has been set up at the Peking University. The experiments with magnetic fields from 0.13 T to 0.52 T have indicated that the discharge behavior is very sensitive to the magnetic flux densities. The slope of discharge curves in a very wide range can be controlled by changing the magnetic field as well as regulated by adjusting the cathode heating power; the production of metallic ions would be much greater than gas ions with the increased magnetic flux density; and the magnetic field has a much higher influence on the DHCD mode than on the PIG mode.     

Discharge characteristics of the DUHOCAMIS with a high magnetic bottle-shaped field

For the purpose of producing high intensity, multiply charged metal ion beams, the dual hollow cathode ion source for metal ions (DUHOCAMIS) was derived from the hot cathode Penning ion source combined with the hollow cathode sputtering experiments in 2007. To investigate the behavior of this discharge geometry in a stronger magnetic bottle-shaped field, a new test bench for DUHOCAMIS with a high magnetic bottle-shaped field up to 0.6 T has been set up at the Peking University. The experiments with magnetic fields from 0.13 T to 0.52 T have indicated that the discharge behavior is very sensitive to the magnetic flux densities. The slope of discharge curves in a very wide range can be controlled by changing the magnetic field as well as regulated by adjusting the cathode heating power; the production of metallic ions would be much greater than gas ions with the increased magnetic flux density; and the magnetic field has a much higher influence on the DHCD mode than on the PIG mode.     

High-intensity femtosecond laser absorption by rare-gas clusters

The energy absorption efficiency of high-intensity (～10^{16}W/cm^2) femtosecond laser pulses in a dense jet of large rare-gas clusters has been measured. Experimental results show that the energy absorption efficiency is strongly dependent on the cluster size and can be higher than 90%. The measurement of the ion energy indicates that the average ion energies of argon and xenon can be as high as 90 and 100keV, respectively. The dependence of the average energy of the ions on the cluster size is also measured. At comparatively low gas backing pressure, the average ion energies of argon and xenon increase with increasing gas backing pressure. The average ion energy of argon becomes saturated gradually with further increase of the gas backing pressure. For xenon, the average ion energy drops a little after the gas backing pressure exceeds 9 bar (3.2×10^5 atoms/cluster). The result showing the existence of a maximum average ion energy has been interpreted within the framework of the microplasma sphere model.     

Simulation of loss of uranium ions due to charge changing processes in the CSRm ring

Significant beam loss caused by the charge exchange processes and ion impact-induced outgassing may restrict the maximum number of accelerated heavy ions during the high intensity operation of an accelerator. In order to control beam loss due to charge exchange processes and confine the generated desorption gas, tracking of the beam loss distribution and installation of absorber blocks with low-desorption rate material at appropriate locations in the main Cooler Storage Ring (CSRm) at the Institute of Modern Physics, Lanzhou, will be performed. The loss simulation of uranium ions with electron-loss is presented in this report and the conclusion is that most charge changed particles are lost in the second dipole of the super-period structure. The calculation of the collimation efficiency of the CSRm ring will be continued in the future.     

Enhancement of electron–ion recombination rates at low energy range in the heavy ion storage ring CSRm

Recombination of Ar¹⁴⁺, Ar¹⁵⁺, Ca¹⁶⁺, and Ni¹⁹⁺ ions with electrons has been investigated at low energy range based on the merged-beam method at the main cooler storage ring CSRm in the Institute of Modern Physics, Lanzhou,China. For each ion, the absolute recombination rate coefficients have been measured with electron–ion collision energies from 0 meV to 1000 meV which include the radiative recombination(RR) and also dielectronic recombination(DR)processes. In order to interpret the measured results, RR cross sections were obtained from a modified version of the semiclassical Bethe and Salpeter formula for hydrogenic ions. DR cross sections were calculated by a relativistic configuration interaction method using the flexible atomic code(FAC) and AUTOSTRUCTURE code in this energy range. The calculated RR + DR rate coefficients show a good agreement with the measured value at the collision energy above 100 meV.However, large discrepancies have been found at low energy range especially below 10 meV, and the experimental results show a strong enhancement relative to the theoretical RR rate coefficients. For the electron–ion collision energy below 1 meV, it was found that the experimentally observed recombination rates are higher than the theoretically predicted and fitted rates by a factor of 1.5 to 3.9. The strong dependence of RR rate coefficient enhancement on the charge state of the ions has been found with the scaling rule of q^3.0, reproducing the low-energy recombination enhancement effects found in other previous experiments.     

Theoretical analysis of ion kinetic energies and DLC film deposition by CH4＋ Ar （He） dielectric barrier discharge plasmas

The kinetic energy of ions in dielectric barrier discharge plasmas are analysed theoretically using the model of binary collisions between ions and gas molecules. Langevin equation for ions in other gases, Blanc law for ions in mixed gases, and the two-temperature model for ions at higher reduced field are used to determine the ion mobility. The kinetic energies of ions in CH4 ＋ Ar（He） dielectric barrier discharge plasma at a fixed total gas pressure and various Ar （He） concentrations are calculated. It is found that with increasing Ar （He） concentration in CH4 ＋ Ar （He） from 20% to 83%, the CH4＋ kinetic energy increases from 69.6 （43.9） to 92.1 （128.5）eV, while the Ar＋ （He＋） kinetic energy decreases from 97 （145.2） to 78.8 （75.5）eV. The increase of CH4＋ kinetic energy is responsible for the increase of hardness of diamond-like carbon films deposited by CH4 ＋ Ar （He） dielectric barrier discharge without bias voltage over substrates.     

Charge fluctuations in Au+Au collisions at RHIC energy

A hadron and string cascade model, JPCIAE, together with the corresponding Monte Carlo event generator, has been employed in this paper to investigate further the charge fluctuations in Au+Au collisions at Snn = 130 GeV. The default JPCIAE calculations are in good agreement with PHENIX and STAR data. We found that the thermal predictions for the π gas, the resonance π gas and quark matter deviate, respectively, from the corresponding dynamical simulations from the JPCIAE model. The discrepancies were also found between the π charge fluctuations and the charge fluctuations of all species of hadrons. However the charge fluctuations for "π from ρ and ω decay" and for all the hadrons from resonance decay are close to each other, indicating the correlation between positively and negatively charged hadrons is not sensitive to the species of hadrons. This work shows further that it is questionable to use the charge fluctuations as a signature of QGP.     

Comparison study of the charge density distribution induced by heavy ions and pulsed lasers in silicon

Heavy ions and pulsed lasers are important means to simulate the ionization damage effects on semiconductor materials. The analytic solution of high-energy heavy ion energy loss in silicon has been obtained using the Bethe-Bloch formula and the Kobetich-Katz theory, and some ionization damage parameters of Fe ions in silicon, such as the track structure and ionized charge density distribution, have been calculated and analyzed according to the theoretical calculation results. Using the Gaussian function and Beer＇s law, the parameters of the track structure and charge density distribution induced by a pulsed laser in silicon have also been calculated and compared with those of Fe ions in silicon, which provides a theoretical basis for ionization damage effect modeling.     

Eine Methode zur Erzeugung von Strahlen negativer Ionen

A new method for the production of beams of negative ions to be injected into a tandem Van de Graaff accelerator is presented. Negative ions of a desired species are produced by impact of noble gas ions with molecules of a gas containing this element, and are then collected and bent into a beam with high efficiency. For example, a beam of negative fluorine ions has been obtained by bombardment of boron fluoride with 30 keV krypton ions, resulting in a current of 0·5 μA of F⁺⁺⁺⁺ at the target. The original ion source of the tandem has been used with this modified procedure. The krypton gas has been fed into the duoplasmatron and the boron fluoride into the charge exchange channel. No damage to the ion source system has been observed, even in this case. This method has also been applied to nitrogen and oxygen with good results. Some measurements are reported, and a brief discussion of the basic process of the method is given.     

Extraction of thermalized projectile fragments from gas

The NSCL gas cell and quadrupole ion-guide system has been used to study the thermalization of fast nuclear reaction products in a buffer gas. The fraction of radioactive ions that can be extracted from the gas cell is dramatically suppressed by space charge created by the stopping ions. The results of a review of the ion yields from the NSCL and from other gas cells from the literature with different sizes and different incident particle energies shows an overall consistency with a dramatic decline in extraction efficiency at high ionization rates.     

An EBIS for charge state breeding in the SPES project

The ‘charge state breeder’, BRIC (breeding ion charge) is in construction at the INFN section of Bari (Italy). It is based on EBIS scheme and it is designed to accept radioactive ion beam (RIB) with charge state +1 in a slow injection mode. This experiment can be considered as a first step towards the design and construction of a charge breeder for the SPES project. The new feature of BRIC, with respect to the classical EBIS, is given by the insertion, in the ion chamber, of a rf-quadrupole aiming at filtering the unwanted masses and then making a more efficient containment of the wanted ions. In this paper, the breeder design, the simulation results of the electron and ion beam propagation and the construction problems of the device will be reported.     

低能强流质子束空间电荷补偿度研究(英文)

对于低能强流离子束来说,空间电荷效应的存在将导致束流发散、发射度增加等一系列问题,从而降低束流品质。幸运的是,当束流由离子源引出通过低能传输线时会与其中的剩余气体发生电离反应,产生二次电子与二次离子;二次电子在束流自身产生的电场作用下,在束流中积累并中和部分空间电荷,达到抑制空间电荷效应的效果。为了测量空间电荷中和程度,中国科学院近代物理研究所研制了一台三栅网式能量分析仪用以测量电离过程中产生的二次离子能量来间接计算空间电荷中和度。实验结果表明,对于40 keV, 18.5 mA的质子束,真空度为1.510*3 Pa 时得到最佳补偿度;真空度一定的情况下,空间电荷补偿度随束流流强增加而变大。For high-intensity low-energy ion beams, space charge effect is a main cause of beam divergence  and emittance growth. Fortunately, residual gas molecules in the drift space tend to be ionized and neutralize the beam space charge spontaneously. The level of Space Charge Neutralization (SCN)is measured through the detection of created secondary ion energy distribution in the beam region. A so-called non-interceptive Three-grid Energy Analyzer (TEA) has been designed and manufactured at Institute of Modern Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences (IMP). This paper will present the detailsof the TEA detector and the application to diagnose proton beam SCN level in the Low Energy Beam Transport (LEBT) line. As a preliminary result, for an 18.5 mA proton beam a best compensating point appears at the vacuum pressure of 1.510*3 Pa. And the neutralization level is advanced with thegrowth of beam current in a constant vacuum pressure.     

The REX-ISOLDE project

The Radioactive Beam Experiment REX-ISOLDE [1–3] is a pilot experiment at ISOLDE (CERN) testing the new concept of post acceleration of radioactive ion beams by using charge breeding of the ions in a high charge state ion source and the efficient acceleration of the highly charged ions in a short LINAC using modern ion accelerator structures. In order to prepare the ions for the experiments singly charged radioactive ions from the on-line mass separator ISOLDE will be cooled and bunched in a Penning trap, charge bred in an electron beam ion source (EBIS) and finally accelerated in the LINAC. The LINAC consists of a radiofrequency quadrupole (RFQ) accelerator, which accelerates the ions up to 0.3 MeV/u, an interdigital H-type (IH) structure with a final energy between 1.1 and 1.2 MeV/u and three seven gap resonators, which allow the variation of the final energy. With an energy of the radioactive beams between 0.8 MeV/u and 2.2 MeV/u a wide range of experiments in the field of nuclear spectroscopy, astrophysics and solid state physics will be addressed by REX-ISOLDE. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Charge state breeding of radioactive isotopes for ISAC

For the acceleration of radioactive isotopes with a mass greater than 30 amu charge breeding with an electron cyclotron resonance ion source (ECRIS) is being used at ISAC. Singly charged ions from the target ion source combination are injected into a 14.5 GHz ECRIS from PANTECHNIK and charge bred to highly charged ions with a mass to charge ratio around 6. Efficiencies from 1 to 8 % could be reached for different isotopes. The article describes the set- up of the system and reports on results obtained for efficiency as well as purity of the beam. Methods to improve the purity are discussed.     

Non-equilibrium plasma production by pulsed laser ablation of gold

A gold target has been irradiated with a Q-switched Nd:Yag laser having 1064?nm wavelength, 9?ns pulse width, 900?mJ maximum pulse energy and a maximum power density of the order of 10¹⁰?W/cm². The laser–target interaction produces a strong gold etching with production of a plasma in front of the target. The plasma contains neutrals and ions having a high charge state. Time-of-flight (TOF) measurements are presented for the analysis of the ion production and ion velocity. A cylindrical electrostatic deflection ion analyzer permits measurement of the yield of the emitted ions, their charge state and their ion energy distribution. Measurements indicate that the ion charge state reaches 6⁺ and 10⁺ at a laser fluence of 100?J/cm² and 160?J/cm², respectively. The maximum ion energy reaches about 2?keV and 8?keV at these low and high laser fluences, respectively. Experimental ion energy distributions are given as a function of the ion charge state. Obtained results indicate that electrical fields, produced in the plume, along the normal to the plane of the target surface, exist in the unstable plasma. The electrical fields induce ion acceleration away from the target with a final velocity dependent on the ion charge state. The ion velocity distributions follow a “shifted Maxwellian distribution”, which the authors have corrected for the Coulomb interactions occurring inside the plasma.     

Guided transmission of oxygen ions through Al2O3 nanocapillaries

The transmissions of oxygen ions through Al2O3 nanocapillaries each 50 nm in diameter and 10 μm in length at a series of different tilt angles are measured,where the ions with energies ranging from 10 to 60 keV and charge states from 1 up to 6 are involved.The angular distribution and the transmission yields of transported ions are investigated.Our results indicate both the existence of a guiding effect when ions pass through the capillary and a significant dependence of the ion transmission on the energy and the charge state of the ions.The guiding effects are observed to be enhanced at lower projectile energies and higher charge states.Meanwhile,the results also exhibit that the transmission yields increase as the tilt angle decreases at a given energy and charge state.     

尾流效应对快速双原子分子离子在固体中电荷态及分子轴取向的影响

研究了快速双原子分子离子在固体中穿行时,尾流效应对各离子电荷态以及库仑爆炸过程的影响.借助于线性介电响应理论和局域介电函数,离子之间的动力学相互作用势可以表示成对称的屏蔽库仑势和非对称的尾势.通过对分子离子上所有束缚电子的总能量进行变分和求解单个离子的运动方程,自洽地确定出分子离子中每个离子的电荷态.数值结果表明,由于尾流效应的影响,在初始穿行阶段,分子离子中导航离子的电荷数随穿行深度的增加而单调递增,而尾随离子的电荷数则随穿行深度的增加而振荡.但当穿行深度很大时,两个离子的电荷数都趋于具有相同速度的孤立离子的电荷数.此外,还发现分子轴的取向朝入射速度方向偏转