Optical Faraday Cup for Heavy Ion Beams

We have been using alumina scintillators for imaging beams in heavy-ion beam fusion experiments in 2 to 4 transverse dimensions [1]. The scintillator has a limited lifetime under bombardment by the heavy ion beams. As a possible replacement for the scintillator, we are studying the technique of imaging the beam on a gas cloud. A gas cloud for imaging the beam may be created on a solid hole plate placed in the path of the beam, or by a localized gas jet. It is possible to image the beam using certain fast-quenching optical lines that closely follow beam current density and are independent of gas density. We describe this technique and show preliminary experimental data. This approach has promise to be a new fast beam current diagnostic on a nanosecond time scale.