Ion Acceleration by a Virtual Cathode Under Conditions of «Compressed» Electron Beam Collapse

Summary form only given. Theoretical and numerical investigations of collective acceleration of positive ions by the virtual cathode displacement in a two-sectional cylindrical drift tube are performed. The ion acceleration mode (proposed elsewhere) under collapse of a so-called "\´compressed" electron beam is shown to be more efficient than that in the case of virtual cathode shifting towards the injection region where this compressed e-beam is formed. Within the range of operating parameters of the SINUS-7 accelerator, the output ion energies are found to exceed the injected electron energies by a few factors.