High-current heavy ion beams in the electrostatic plasma lens

We describe applications of the electrostatic plasma lens for manipulating and focusing moderate-energy, high-current, broad, heavy ion beams. Use of a plasma lens in this way has been successfully demonstrated in a series of experiments carried out collaboratively between the Institute of Physics, National Academy of Sciences, Kiev, Ukraine, and the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA, in recent years. Here, we briefly review the plasma lens fundamentals, peculiarities of focusing heavy ion beams, and summarize some recent developments (experiments, computer simulations, theory). We show that there is a very narrow range of low magnetic field for which the optical properties of the lens improve markedly. This opens up some attractive possibilities for the development of a new-generation compact lens based on permanent magnets. Preliminary experimental results obtained at Kiev and Berkeley on the operation of a permanent magnet plasma lens for manipulating wide aperture high-current heavy ion beams are presented and summarized.