Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2019

DOI

10.1063/1.5110402

Publication Title

Review of Scientific Instruments

Volume

90

Issue

9

Pages

093303 (1-8)

Abstract

Multicharged carbon ions are generated by using a laser-assisted spark-discharge ion source. A Q-switched Nd:YAG laser pulse (1064 nm, 7 ns, ≤ 4.5 × 109 W/cm2) focused onto the surface of a glassy carbon target results in its ablation. The spark-discharge (∼1.2 J energy, ∼1 µs duration) is initiated along the direction of the plume propagation between the target surface and a grounded mesh that is parallel to the target surface. Ions emitted from the laser-spark plasma are detected by their time-of-flight using a Faraday cup. The ion energy-to-charge ratio is analyzed by a three-mesh retarding field analyzer. In one set of experiments, the laser plasma is generated by target ablation using a 50 mJ laser pulse. In another set of experiments, ∼1.2 J spark-discharge energy is coupled to the expanding plasma to increase the plasma density and temperature that results in the generation of carbon multicharged ions up to C6+. A delay-generator is used to control the time delay between the laser pulse and the thyratron trigger. Ion generation from a laser pulse when a high DC voltage is applied to the target is compared to that when a spark-discharge with an equivalent pulsed voltage is applied to the target. The laser-coupled spark-discharge (7 kV peak voltage, 810 A peak current) increases the maximum detected ion charge state from C4+ to C6+, accompanied by an increase in the ion yield by a factor of ∼6 compared to applying 7.0 kV DC voltage to the target.

Comments

This article may be downloaded for personal use only. Any other use requires prior permission of the author and AIP Publishing. This article appeared in Review of Scientific Instruments Volume 90, Issue 9, Pages 093303.

Original Publication Citation

Rahman, M. M., Balki, O., & Elsayed-Ali, H. E. (2019). Carbon multicharged ion generation from laser-spark ion source. Review of Scientific Instruments, 90(9), 093303. doi:10.1063/1.5110402

ORCID

0000-0003-1102-5310 (Rahman)

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