Storage of ions from laser-produced plasmas

A laser-produced plasma has been shown to be an effective means of producing metal ions, which are subsequently stored in an ion trap. The output from a Nd:YAG laser is focused onto targets, including Be, C, Al, Fe, and Pb, at the edge of an electrostatic ion trap. Typically 2×10⁸ ions are trapped with storage times greater than 100 msec. Only singly charged ions are observed. The ion trap used for this work is a novel electrostatic trap having a harmonic axial potential. Properties of the plasma are measured by using the trap as a Langmuir probe.