Thomson parabola ion spectrograph with the microchannel plate image converter in investigations of high-Z laser plasma ion sources

Abstract

The results of experimental investigations on ion production from tantalum targets, made with the application of the Thomson parabola ion spectrograph (TP) to an image converter equipped with a microchannel plate of the size of 70×90 mm², are presented. In the experiments, the iodine photodissociation laser system PERUN (λ=1.315 μm, E_L≤50 J, τ∼350–650 ps. I≤10¹⁵ W/cm²) was used for ion generation. The TP can give useful information about physical processes, ion species, their energies, and charge states from a single laser shot. The results obtained are compared with the results of measurements made with an electrostatic ion energy analyzer and charge collectors and they are used to estimate the Ta ion yield with an average charge state of 40+. The obtained values are N∼2.6×10¹¹ sr⁻¹.