Z-pinch system for beam-plasma experiments

A z-pinch system was developed which is suited for beam-plasma experiments. The beam can be a particle beam of fast heavy ions injected into the plasma to study the interaction processes of the projectiles with hot matter in terms of charge state and energy loss. The beam may also be a laser beam generated by the plasma itself or an external laser used for diagnostics of the plasma. The common requirements for such beam-plasma systems are: plasma geometry matched to the beam features, controlled and homogeneous plasma state, beam windows which have only a little influence on the beam or plasma properties. According to these items a modified z-pinch device was set up and diagnosed, which will be used as a plasma target for the beam of a heavy ion accelerator. In a series of beam-plasma experiments, the interaction of particle or light beams with cylindrical plasmas is investigated. These are for example systems, where a laser beam is used for diagnostics of a z-pinch plasma or a laser b eam is generated by a plasma itself. The latter refers to pulsed plasma systems as laser media in the UV- or VUV-spectral range. Furthermore, the beam can be a particle beam of fast heavy ions injected into the plasma to study the interaction processes of the projectiles with hot matter in terms of charge state and energy loss.