Propagation of a short proton beam through a thin plasma slab

A one-dimensional open boundary Vlasov code is used in order to investigate the propagation of a short proton beam through a plasma slab. Collisionless regimes are assumed, where the interaction between the beam and the plasma occurs due to the self-consistent, collective, electric field. Both charge compensated (by an accompanying electron cloud) and noncompensated beams are considered.