Energy loss of heavy ions in laser-produced plasmas

¹ Institut für Angewandte Physik, TU-Darmstadt Schloßgartenstraße 7, 64289 Darmstadt, Germany
² University of Rochester - 250 East River Road, Rochester, New York, USA
³ Institut für Kernphysik, TU-Darmstadt Schloßgartenstraße 9, 64289 Darmstadt, Germany
⁴ Tokyo Institute of Technology - Yokohama 8502, 4259 Nagatsuta, Japan
⁵ Ernst-Moritz-Arndt-Universität - Domstraße 11, 17487 Greifswald, Germany
⁶ Gesellschaft für Schwerionenforschung - Planckstraße 1, 64291 Darmstadt, Germany

Received: 2 November 1999
Accepted: 13 January 2000

Abstract

The unique combination of a high-energy Nd:glass laser system and the intense heavy-ion beam at Gesellschaft für Schwerionenforschung (GSI) allowed for the first time the measurement of the stopping power of heavy ions in plasmas at the level of one percent solid-state density and temperatures of about 60 eV. Energy loss measurements of swift heavy ions (5–6 MeV/u) in a carbon plasma revealed a stopping power exceeding theoretical predictions which was not observed in earlier experiments at lower plasma densities. This discrepancy can be resolved assuming higher effective charge states of the projectiles resulting in a consistent picture for the measured parameter range.