Coaxial sweep scheme for ion-beam lasers

A coaxial deflection and focusing arrangement with beam ions initially in Harris flow is proposed for sweeping the region of excitation along the active medium of an ion beam excited laser. Control of beam defocusing effects (associated with space charge and emittance) is effected. Equations describing ion beam dynamics are derived, equations of motion are solved numerically, and focused ion density is determined. It is shown that ions can be deflected and swept along a target at the speed of light by a voltage pulse propagating down a coaxial transmission line. Harris flow is shown to be stable for small perturbations about the initial ion radius.