Development of a Compact Plasma Trap for Experimental Beam Physics

Abstract

A tabletop experimental system has been developed for the study of various collective effects in space-charge-dominated beams. It is based on the recently proposed idea that the dynamic motion of a one-component plasma in a trap can be made physically equivalent to that of a charged-particle beam propagating through a linear transport channel. In this paper, we report on the details of the system and on results of test experiments with a compact Paul trap that is divided into several independent sections. The trap design is carried out in consideration of practical constraints. A Maxwell equation solver is used to calculate the properties of the plasma confinement potential. Experimental observations are compared with numerical data obtained by a tracking simulation code that enables us to approximately predict the three-dimensional trajectories of particles in the system. Low-density N 2 þ plasmas are employed to examine the basic performance of the multi-section trap. The initial temperature, density and lifetime of a confined plasma are estimated from experiments and simulations.

Design Study of a Multipole Ion Trap for Beam Physics Applications

“…The optimum values of V S 's can be determined easily if the size and direction of each electrode's misalignment are known. Such information about actual mechanical errors is indeed unknown, but we can at least measure the ion-loss rate due to sextupole resonance with many different combi- nations of the additional voltages 5 . The data of systematic ion-loss measurements enable us to find the optimum V S 's for sextupole minimization.…”

“…In the case of Fig. 6, the plates are excited every three FODO 5 Experimental simulations of intense beam dynamics by means of the S-POD system are far faster than any multi-particle computer simulations. An ion-loss measurement based on a particular AG focusing waveform is completed typically within ten seconds, regardless of the plasma density.…”

“…At Hiroshima University, a unique tabletop tool called "S-POD" (Simulator of Particle Orbit Dynamics) has been developed which allows acceleratorfree experiments on diverse beam-dynamics issues [4][5][6][7][8][9][10]. The S-POD system is based on a compact linear Paul trap in which we can confine a large number of ions 1 .…”

Recent advances in the physics of collective excitations in the Paul trap simulator experiment

“…The simulation makes use of the isomorphism between the transverse equations of motion for particles in the two systems [16,[25][26][27]. The isomorphism exists because PTSX can be thought of as an experiment performed in a charged-particle beam's frame of reference.…”

Axial resonances of Ar + ions observed in a linear Paul trap

“…A large number of Cs + ions were confined in a 2 m long linear Paul trap to study basic properties of a space charge dominated charged particle system [4]. Also, a linear Paul trap which can confine a large number of ions has been constructed for a simplified experimental beam physics and preliminary experimental results have been reported [5]. In the present experiment, Ar + ions were confined in a linear Paul trap [5,6], for the purpose of studying various resonances observed in a non-neutral plasma.…”