Molecular Ion Photodissociation Injection

A new technique for injecting an ion beam into a storage ring is presented. The idea arose in conection with high energy ion beam fusion where a large degree of transverse stacking in both planes would otherwise be necessary. The method involves accelerating a molecular ion such as HI+ but storing the atcnic ion I+ by photodissociating the molecule at injection. The irreversibility of the reaction ??+HI+??Ho+I+ renders irrelevant Liouville´s theorem, which, with standard injection, would prevent new beam fran being injected into the same space as already circulating beam. Xenon flashlamp and ruby laser system for acccxplishing mlecular ion dissociation (MID) are described.