Simulations of 8-keV Ar8+ ions through curved glass macrocapillaries

Abstract Early experiments have evidenced that low-energy ions can be significantly guided through a single curved macrocapillary with a large bending angle, which seems impossible for a straight macrocapillary with the tilt angle equal to the bending angle. We here present the first simulation of the transmission of ions through curved macrocapillaries. The simulated results yield partial agreement with the experiments. It implies that the significant guiding can be attributed to the big curved charge patch formed on the capillary inner wall. Furthermore, the simulations predict a focusing effect on the transmitted ions that are distributed in a crescent-moon-like pattern.