Generation and Control of a Slow Space Charge Wave on a High Current Electron Beam and its Potential as a Collective Ion Accelerator.

The slow space charge wave was successfully grown, and techniques were developed to measure its phase velocity and electric field amplitude. The amplitude was large enough to be of interest for ion acceleration, but a beam instability prevented the attainment of a low phase velocity, controllable during a single shot. The experimental results indicated that the desired phase velocity properties could be achieved if the instability were eliminated, for example by increasing the strength of the guiding magnetic field.