Beam trapping experiments on the University of Maryland Electron Ring Accelerator

The University of Maryland Electron Ring Accelerator experiment involves a collective ion acceleration scheme in which a cusp injected hollow rotating electron beam is used for the acceleration of ions. Essential to this scheme is the slowing and trapping of a nonneutral electron ring in some form of a magnetic mirror system. As a first step in this direction, preliminary experimental results on the interaction of nonneutral E-layer beams with static magnetic mirrors are reported. Also, results from initial experiments on the interaction of E-layer beams and a background neutral gas to be used in ring trapping and ion loading are presented. Detection of a small number of ions in the ERA chamber using cellulose nitrate films is also reported.