Ge and Ti post-ion acceleration from laser ion source

Nanoseconds infrared laser pulses, with intensities of the order of 1010 W/cm2, induce high ablation in Ge and Ti targets. Ions are produced in vacuum with energy distribution following the Coulomb-Boltzmann-shifted distribution and they are ejected mainly along the normal to the target surface. The free ion expansion process occurs in a constant-potential chamber placed at 30 kV positive voltage. An electric field of 5 kV/cm was used to accelerate the ions emitted from the plasma at INFN-LNS laser facility. Time-of-flight technique is employed to measure the mean ion energies of the post-accelerated particles. Ion charge states and energy distributions were measured through an ion energy spectrometer.