Simulating the Long-Distance Propagation of Intense Beams in the Paul Trap Simulator Experiment

The Paul Trap Simulator Experiment (PTSX) makes use of a compact Paul trap configuration with quadrupolar oscillating wall voltages to simulate the propagation of intense charged particle beams over distances of many kilometers through magnetic alternating-gradient transport systems. The simulation is possible because of the similarity between the transverse dynamics of particles in the two systems. One-component pure cesium ion plasmas have been trapped that correspond to normalized intensity parameters ŝ < 0.8, where ŝ is the ratio of the square of the on-axis plasma frequency to twice the square of the average transverse focusing frequency. The PTSX device confines the plasma for hundreds of milliseconds, which is equivalent to beam propagation over tens of kilometers. Results are presented for experiments in which the amplitude of the oscillating wall voltage waveform has been modified as a function of time. Changing the amplitude for an integral number N of half-cycles and then restoring the amplitude to its original value affects the plasma in a manner that is non-monotonic with N.