No abstract

The resistive hose instability of a self-pinched relativistic beam is examined with emphasis placed on the important case of the Bennett current profile JB(r) ∝ (1+r2/a2)−2. Previously known results applicable to a general profile are recovered and extended in several directions. An essential new feature in this study is the use of distributed particle mass to model orbital phase-mixing effects produced by the anharmonic pinch field. Resonant growth is considerably reduced, and the instability when viewed in the beam reference frame is shown to be convective rather than absolute. The peak amplitude of a disturbance wave packet moves from the point of its inception in the beam pulse toward the pulse tail. The disturbance subsequently damps if the pulse length is finite; thus, propagation over distances that are long compared with the particle betatron wavelength is possible. The predicted growth rate and group velocity of the mode are shown to be in fair agreement with the results of numerical simulation.

Hose instability dispersion relations, which include a self-consistent treatment of the spatial and temporal evolution of plasma conductivity and plasma current, are derived for a relativistic beam propagating in weakly ionized gas. A simplified conductivity model is used which neglects temperature dependence of the electron mobility. In some regimes the results are dramatically different from those found previously for a beam propagating in a fixed conductivity channel. For example, the hose growth rate is found to decrease with increasing current Ib for a beam propagating in initially neutral gas, even though the plasma return current fraction increases rapidly with Ib. As another example, it is found that an externally driven discharge current can completely eliminate hose instability in a fixed conductivity channel, but causes only a weak decrease in growth rate when the plasma conductivity is modeled self-consistently. OFF

A Fokker–Planck equation is derived to study the evolution of a stable, low-current beam propagating in a gas-plasma medium. Small-angle scattering of the beam particles by the medium causes diffusion in the phase space projected transverse to the direction of propagation. The projected components of dynamical friction vanish. As a result, there is a continued input of energy into the transverse particle motions, which is taken up in expansion against the pinch field. A quasi-static Bennett equilibrium, with isothermal distribution of transverse momenta, is shown to be a similarity solution of the Fokker–Planck equation with scale radius increasing in accord with Nordsiéck’s formula. An H theorem is proved and the Bennett distribution is shown to minimize both H and −dH/dt; hence, it is the time-dependent asymptotic state. The predicted current profile and radius are shown to be in fair agreement with experiment.

In the currently envisioned configurations for heavy ion fusion, it is necessary to longitudinally compress the beam bunches by a large factor after the acceleration phase. Because the space-charge force increases as the beam is compressed, the beam size in the transverse direction will increase in a periodic quadrupole lattice. If an active control of the beam size is desired, a larger focusing force is needed to confine the beam in the transverse direction, and a nonperiodic quadrupole lattice along the beam path is necessary. In this paper, we describe the design of such a focusing lattice using the transverse envelope equations. A drift compression and final focus lattice should focus the entire beam pulse onto the same focal spot on the target. This is difficult with a fixed lattice, because different slices of the beam may have different perveance and emittance. Four time-dependent magnets are introduced in the upstream of drift compression to focus the entire pulse onto the same focal spot. Drift compression and final focusing schemes are developed for a typical heavy ion fusion driver and for the integrated beam experiment being designed by the Heavy Ion Fusion Virtual National Laboratory.