Thomson mass spectrograph for study of laser plasma

We have developed a high-sensitivity Thomson mass spectrograph which permits analysis of the expansion of the ion component of a plasma produced by means of lasers, as functions of the ion energies and charge composition in the range E/sub i//Zapprox.1--200 keV. We describe the operation of the principal elements of the spectrograph, including the detecting system consisting of a microchannel plate and an image amplifier. We discuss methods of calibrating the spectrograph for use in studying the energy spectra of the ions.