Ion tracking in an electrostatic potential distribution

An ion tracking system utilizing a single detector was designed to resolve two dimensional potential distributions in a vacuum. The ion detector consisted of a continuous dynode electron multiplier tube mounted behind a series of aperture plates. The detector was located on a track below a wedge shaped structure used to produce the desired potential distribution. A 150 volt electron beam aimed at selected regions, ionized the residual gas in the chamber. The ions were ejected from their source points by electrostatic forces causing them to drift downward toward the detector. Measurements of particle energy, detector position, and entry angle of the incoming particle flux were used to initialize a computer trajectory-tracing program. The program assumes a known theoretically calculated potential distribution near the wedge for computation of particle trajectories, providing a basis for evaluating the data. Special attention was given to characterization of the ion detector.