Models of self-pinched ion beam transport

Summary form only given. Ion-beam-driven inertial confinement fusion (ICF) requires the efficient transport of intense, focused ion beams over distances of many meters to an ICF target. The self-pinch transport (SPT) scheme utilizes the incomplete current neutralization of an ion beam propagating in a low pressure background gas to radially confine the beam. Experiments and theoretical investigations are presently under way to assess the feasibility of this beam transport mechanism. Simulations of SPT are being carried out using the 3-D hybrid particle-in-cell code, IPROP. For this work, an intense ion beam is injected into different background gas pressures of argon and helium in order to determine the optimum gas pressure for SPT. In addition, simulations will be carried out that examine the effect on beam confinement of changing the ratio of the beam injection radius to the gas chamber wall radius, using different beam injection angles, and changing the beam current rise time. Along with the PIC simulations, several analytic models are being investigated and further developed for understanding the important physics of SPT and scaling for various applications. Available results will be presented.