Velocity control of ion beams in induction accelerators

Summary form only given. The authors consider the challenge of active velocity control and the limitations of present diagnostics for beam velocity distributions. They discuss a simple method for local measurements of the axial velocity distribution that can be used at the lower energy end of an HIF (heavy-ion fusion) accelerator. The method involves inducing a known velocity shift on a small portion of the beam and analyzing downstream current perturbations. This approach may have application to near-term ILSE experiments in the HIF program.