Picosecond Ion Pulses from an EN Tandem Created by a Femtosecond Ti:Sapphire Laser

K.D. Carnes, C.L. Cocke, Z. Chang, I. Ben-Itzhak, H.V. Needham, A. Rankin
James R. Macdonald Laboratory, Department of Physics,
Kansas State University, Manhattan, KS, USA

As the James R. Macdonald Laboratory at Kansas State University continues its transformation from an ion collisions facility to an ultrafast laser/ion collisions facility, we are looking for novel ways to combine our traditional accelerator expertise with our new laser capabilities. One such combination is to produce picosecond pulses of stripping gas ions in the high energy accelerating tube of our EN tandem by directing ~100 femtosecond, sub-milliJoule laser pulses up the high energy end of the tandem toward a focusing mirror at the terminal. Ion pulses from both background gas and stripping gas have been produced and identified, with pulse widths thus far on the order of a nanosecond. This width represents an upper limit, as it is dominated by pulse to pulse jitter and is therefore not a true representation of the actual pulse width. Broadening effects, such as tandem terminal ripple, thermal motion of the gas, and space charge will be discussed. SIMION calculations showing the effect of Dowlish titanium spiral inclined field tubes on the pulses will be presented. We are currently adapting an X-ray streak camera to allow us to better study the time structure of individual ion pulses created by the laser. These results will be reported if available.

This work was supported by the Chemical Sciences, Geosciences and Biosciences Division,
Office of Basic Energy Sciences, Office of Science, U.S. Department of Energy.

Submitted to CAARI, August 2006 in Fort Worth, TX.

 

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