PPPL-3769 is available in pdf format (936 KB).

Nonlinear df Simulations of Collective Effects in Intense Charged Particle Beams

Author: Hong Qin

Date of PPPL Report: January 2003

Published in: Physics of Plasmas 10 No 5 (May 2003) 2078-2086

A nonlinear df particle simulation method based on the Vlasov-Maxwell equations has been recently developed to study collective processes in high-intensity beams, where space-charge and magnetic self-field effects play a critical role in determining the nonlinear beam dynamics. Implemented in the Beam Equilibrium, Stability and Transport (BEST) code [H. Qin, R.C. Davidson, and W.W. Lee, Phys. Rev. Special Topics on Accel. and Beams 3, 084401 (2000); 3, 109901 (2000).], the nonlinear df method provides a low-noise and self-consistent tool for simulating collective interactions and nonlinear dynamics of high-intensity beams in modern and next-generation accelerators and storage rings, such as the Spallation Neutron Source and heavy ion fusion drivers. A wide range of linear eigenmodes of high-intensity charged-particle beams can be systematically studied using the BEST code. Simulation results for the electron-proton two-stream instability in the Proton Storage Ring experiment [R. Macek, et al., in Proc. of the Particle Accelerator Conference, Chicago, 2001 (IEEE, Piscataway, NJ, 2001), Vol. 1, p. 688.] at the Los Alamos National Laboratory agree well with experimental observations. Large-scale parallel simulations have also been carried out for the ion-electron two-stream instability in the very-high-intensity heavy ion beams envisioned for heavy ion fusion applications. In both cases, the simulation results indicate that the dominant two-stream instability has a dipole-mode (hose-like) structure and can be stabilized by a modest axial momentum spread of the beam particles.