Feasibility of using optical Cherenkov radiation for non-relativistic ion beam diagnostics

Abstract

In this paper, we propose to use quasi-monochromatic Cherenkov spectral lines for ion beam diagnostics. As representatives of light and heavy ions, we use C12 and Au197 ions, respectively. First, using the Geant4 toolkit, we determine the ionization lost energy as a function of the radiator penetration depth. After that, we use those data in the polarization currents method to compare the theoretical spectral lines with and without ionization losses. We also use the real-beam polarization currents method to analyze real-beam and setup parameters affecting the accuracy of the beam diagnostics. We emphasize that the precision of refractive index measurement might be a source of inaccuracy in ion beam diagnostics. Nevertheless, according to the provided data, we can expect that the method for measuring Cherenkov quasi-monochromatic spectral lines should be applicable for beam-diagnostics purposes, especially for lighter ions.