Abstract
Thin carbon foils are used as strippers for charge exchange injection into high intensity proton rings. However, the stripping foils become radioactive and produce uncontrolled beam loss, which is one of the main factors limiting beam power in high intensity proton rings.
Recently, we presented a scheme for laser stripping of an H- beam for the Spallation Neutron Source ring. First, H- atoms are converted to H0 by a magnetic field, then H0 atoms are excited from the ground state to the upper levels by a laser, and the excited states are converted to protons by a magnetic field.
This paper presents first results of the SNS laser stripping proof-of-principle experiment. The experimental setup is described, and possible explanations of the data are discussed.
