Fully Stripped Ion Beams Produced by Pulse Powered Plasma Focus Device

A new type of plasma focus device is used to produce ion beams of helium, nitrogen and argon. The ion beams are analyzed by a Thomson spectrometer that has as its detector CR-39 plastic, a material which allows high sensitivity and spatial resolution. It is found that virtually all of the helium, nitrogen and argon ions are fully stripped and accelerated to energy per charge of 550 keV/Z. From the same Thomson parabolas, methods of obtaining the energy spectrum and the emittance of beam are discussed.