Theory and simulations of intense laser cooled coasting beams

For an accurate investigation of the interaction between an intense ion bea m and laser light, the dynamical effect on the ions due to laser cooling is added in the kinetic description of the beam. This leads to a modified Vla sov equation, which accounts for space-charge effects and for cooling. The numerical solution of this model provides a suitable tool to study the dyna mics of a laser cooled beam. Results from simulations are used here to show both the validity of a perturbative analysis on the kinetic equation and t he effects of intra-beam scattering in the cooling process. (C) 2000 Elsevi er Science B.V. All rights reserved.