Transport of intense particle beams with application to heavy ion fusion

An attractive feature of the high energy (> GeV) heavy ion beam approach to inertial fusion, as compared with other particle beam systems, is the relative simplicity involved in the transport and focusing of energy on the target inside a reactor chamber. While this focusing could be done in vacuum by conventional methods with multiple beams, there are significant advantages in reactor design if one can operate at gas pressures around one torr. In this paper we summarize the results of our studies of heavy ion beam transport in gases. With good enough charge and current neutralization, one could get a ballistically-converging beam envelope down to a few millimeters over a 10 meter path inside the chamber. Problems of beam filamentation place important restrictions on this approach. We also discuss transport in a self-focused mode, where a relatively stable pressure window is predicted similar to the observed “window” for electron beam transport. This approach, or the use of a current. channel made by external means, is particularly attractive because a much smaller entrance port can be used.