Intense ion beam produced plasmas on TIT-RFQ linac

Intense ion beams from an RFQ linac can be used to investigate the plasma e xperiments. At present, a He-4(+) beam with the mean current of 2 mA in a m acropulse is focused to about 1.1 mm(2) on the target surface. The output-b eam is switched from a beam dump to the target within 50 ns by using a fast electrostatic beam kicker. This kicker synchronizes to the RF-pulse, and i t is used to control the timing between the beam-target interaction and the diagnostic equipment. The experiments were performed with a gas target. Th e behavior of the ion beam-produced plasma was observed. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science S.A. Ail rights reserved.