Ion beam transport and focus for LMF using an achromatic solenoidal lens system

Summary form only given, as follows. The light ion LMF (Laboratory Microfusion Facility) requires an ion beam transport length for bunching and standoff of about 4 m from the diode to the target. The baseline LMF transport scheme uses an achromatic two-lens system consisting of the diode (a self-field lens) and a solenoidal lens. Charge and current neutralization are provided by a background gas. The effects of additional magnetic fields have been examined, including those produced by nonzero net currents, applied B effects near the diode, and diamagnetic effects in the solenoidal lens. Instabilities were analyzed, including the filamentation instability, the two-stream instability, the plasma two-stream instability, and the ion acoustic instability. Scattering in the foil and gas was shown to be negligible. Gas breakdown processes were analyzed in detail, including ion impact ionization, electron avalanching, and ohmic heating. Special diode requirements were examined, including voltage accuracy, energy spread, and aiming tolerances