A modified Thomson parabola spectrometer for high resolution multi-MeV ion measurements—Application to laser-driven ion acceleration

A novel Thomson parabola ion spectrometer design is presented, in which a gradient electric field configuration is employed to enable a compact design capable of high resolution measurements of ion energy and charge-to-mass ratio. Practical issues relating to the use of the spectrometer for measurement of ion acceleration in high-power laser-plasma experiments are discussed. Example experimental results for ion acceleration from petawatt-class laser interactions with thin gold target foils are presented.