Abstract: The invention presents an approach that uses plural separated foils to shape an ion beam so that the intensity density of hot spots in the ion beam is lowered. More particularly, plural foils are placed in close proximity to each other, wherein at least one foil intercepts a portion of the beam to strip a charge from ions in different portions of the beam at different times, and thus, shape the ion beam. At a basic level, the inventive approach places plural foils so that the distance between planes of successive foils is a fraction of the radius of curvature of the beam's cyclotron orbit.