THOMSON PARABOLA ION SPECTROGRAPH WITH THE MICROCHANNEL PLATE IMAGE CONVERTER IN INVESTIGATIONS OF HIGH-Z LASER-PLASMA ION SOURCES

The results of experimental investigations on ion production from tant alum targets, made with the application of the Thomson parabola ion sp ectrograph (TP) to an image converter equipped with a microchannel pla te of the size of 70x90 mm(2), are presented. In the experiments, the iodine photodissociation laser system PERUN (lambda=1.315 mu m, E(L) l ess than or equal to 50 J, tau similar to 350-650 ps. l less than or e qual to 10(15) W/cm(2)) was used for ion generation. The TP can give u seful information about physical processes, ion species, their energie s, and charge states from a single laser shot. The results obtained ar e compared with the results of measurements made with an electrostatic ion energy analyzer and charge collectors and they are used to estima te the Ta ion yield with an average charge state of 40+. The obtained values are N similar to 2.6X10(11) sr(-1). (C) 1996 American Institute of Physics.