Experimental study on the feasibility of hot plasmas as stripping media for MeV heavy ions

Abstract

The feasibility of using hot plasmas as strippers for low-energy ion beams has been investigated by measuring charge state distributions of 350 keV/u ions (12C,16O,19F) after their passage through a laser-produced plasma target. The plasma target was produced by irradiating a small pellet of lithium hydride with a Nd-glass laser. The profiles of electron densities of the plasma target were estimated from the intensity profiles of an Ar laser refracted by the plasma. The intensities of ions with different charge states were simultaneously measured using a time-resolved magnetic spectrograph. It was found that this plasma can yield higher charge states than conventional gaseous or solid strippers. Results of a numerical analysis are compared with the experimental data to explain the observed stripping capability of the plasma.