Scaling laws for guiding of highly charged ions through nanocapillaries in insulating PET

Guided transmission of highly charged ions through nanocapillaries in insulating PET polymers was investigated. New PET samples with parallel capillaries were adopted using a variety of ions ranging from Ne7+ to Xe25+. The results yield new insights into the mechanisms of capillary guiding. The fraction of transmitted ions was found to be independent on the incident ion current indicating a sudden increase of the discharge current. Scaling laws for the guiding of highly charged ions are established yielding a unified curve for the projectile parameters charge state, energy and incident angle. The results are discussed in terms of the guiding power which specifies the ability of a material to guide ions.