Experimental Investigation of Linear-Beam Collective Ion Acceleration in Vacuum

Preliminary experimental results of collective ion acceleration using a linear beam from the University of Maryland Electron Ring Accelerator injector are presented. Neutron yield of 109 neutrons/pulse from Cu(p, n) Zn reactions are observed. From the Q value of the reaction, the energy of the proton must be above 4 MeV. The number of protons per pulse is estimated to exceed 1013.