The operation of a 45 degrees parallel-plate electrostatic analyser in laser-produced plasma studies

Space charge effects within the analyser are shown to cause saturation of the output signal for entrance slit widths wider than some value W ent max , and the variation of W ent max with ion energy E and charge Z is measured for the ions C 6+ , C 5+ and C 4+ in the range 0.75 keV<or=E/Z<or=3 keV. Comparison is made with theory. An ion energy spectrum distorted by space charge effects is contrasted with the same spectrum free of such effects.