Beam Physics Simulations for the Scorpius Accelerator

Scorpius 1 is a next generation linear induction accelerator currently being designed by multiple national laboratories and will be installed at U1a, which is operated by the Nevada National Security Site. Scorpius is planned to deliver a 22.4 MeV, 1.4 kA electron beam up to four pulses at various pulse spacing and pulse widths. To help with the technical maturation of the project, several beam simulation codes have been implemented to estimate beam transport as well as tune the machine to minimize risk. Results will be shown of the current state of Scorpius beam transport using the XTR 2 envelope code and the LSP 3 particle-in-cell code. The simulations show that the current design of Scorpius is able to meet the high-level requirements, including delivering a beam with a less than 1000 mm-mrad emittance at the end of the accelerator for the four-pulse case at the desired beam spot size. Results of desorption in the injector and beam spill are also shown. Future planned simulations will be discussed.