Experimental Studies of Heavy Ion Collective Acceleration at the University of Maryland

The collective acceleration of ions (H, C, N) from a well-localized ion source immediately downstream of a relativistic electron beam diode is experimentally investigated. The ions are produced either in a well-confined gas cloud from a fast rise puff valve or from a solid material that is placed behind the anode and bombarded by a short, 1 joule ruby laser pulse. With a 1.2 MeV, 30 kA, 30 ns electron beam pulse, 11 MeV protons and 20 MeV nitrogen ions were observed (by foil activation diagnostics) when the electron beam was fired through the well-localized gas cloud, and 20 MeV carbon ions were observed when the beam was fired through a laser-produced carbon plasma.