Neutralized transport of high intensity beams

The NTX experiment at the Heavy Ion Fusion Virtual National Laboratory is exploring the performance of neutralized final focus systems for high perveance heavy ion beams. A converging ion beam at the exit of the final focus magnetic system is injected into a neutralized drift section. The neutralization is provided by a metal arc source and an RF plasma source. Effects of a "plasma plug", where electrons are extracted from a localized plasma in the upstream end of the drift section, and are then dragged along by the ion potential, as well as the "volumetric plasma", where neutralization is provided by the plasma laid down along the ion path, are both studied and their relative effects on the beam spot size are compared. Comparisons with 3-D PIC code predictions will also be presented.