Tracking ground state Ba+ ions in an expanding laser–plasma plume using time-resolved vacuum ultraviolet photoionization imaging
Hirsch, John S., Kavanagh, Kevin D., Kennedy, Eugene T.ORCID: 0000-0002-0710-5281, Costello, John T.ORCID: 0000-0003-4677-9999, Nicolosi, P. and Poletto, L.
(2004)
Tracking ground state Ba+ ions in an expanding laser–plasma plume using time-resolved vacuum ultraviolet photoionization imaging.
Laser and Particle Beams, 22
(3).
pp. 207-213.
ISSN 0263-0346
We report results from a study of the integrated column density and expansion dynamics of ground-state-selected Ba+ ions in a laser–plasma plume using a new experimental system—VPIF (vacuum-ultraviolet photoabsorption imaging facility). The ions are tracked by recording the attenuation of a pulsed and collimated vacuum ultraviolet beam, tuned to the 5p–6d inner-shell resonance of singly ionized barium, as the expanding plasma plume moves across it. The attenuated beam is allowed to fall on a CCD array where the spatial distribution of the absorption is recorded. Time-resolved ion velocity and integrated column density maps are readily extracted from the photoionization images.