Transverse Ion Current Density Profile of Laser Ablation Plasma Propagating through Multicusp Magnetic Field

Abstract

We investigated the behavior of a laser ablation plasma during transport in a multicusp magnetic field generated using 16 neodymium magnets. The transverse ion current density profiles in the magnetic field were measured using a Faraday cup. As the result, it was shown that the uniform region of the current density profile almost corresponded to the uniform region of magnetic flux density profile. The result also indicates that a laser ion source using the multicusp magnetic field has a potential to extract an ion beam with uniform current density around the center axis in the transverse direction.