Interaction of heavy ions with hot ionized matter

The energy loss of heavy ions in a hydrogen plasma has been measured in an energy range from 1.4 to 6 MeV/u. A z-pinch has been used as a plasma target with a maximum free electron density of 1.5×10 19 cm −3 . Our data show a strong enhancement of the stopping power of the plasma compared to that of a cold gas with equal density. Charge state analysis of the ions also show a higher charge state of the ions in the plasma target, relative to the cold hydrogen gas targets. A plasma lens effect of the high power z-pinch discharge was observed in our experiments.