Simulation of heavy-ion guiding in insulators

Guiding of charged particles through insulating target structures (capillaries, glass cones, parallel glass plates) has become a topic of considerable interest. It has been shown for insulating capillary targets that highly charged ions are deflected along the capillary axis while remaining in their initial charge state. Similar results have been reported for the focusing of ion beams by glass cones. We have developed a classical transport theory relating microscopic charge-up with macroscopic material properties. For insulating capillary transmission good agreement with experiments is found. Currently investigated experimental systems will be accessible to theory within the same framework.