Computer simulation of three-dimensional heavy ion beam trajectory imaging techniques used for magnetic field estimation

Abstract

A magnetic field mapping technique via heavy ion beam trajectory imaging is being developed on the Madison Symmetric Torus reversed field pinch. This paper describes the computational tools created to model camera images of the light emitted from a simulated ion beam, reconstruct a three-dimensional trajectory, and estimate the accuracy of the reconstruction. First, a computer model is used to create images of the torus interior from any candidate camera location. It is used to explore the visual field of the camera and thus to guide camera parameters and placement. Second, it is shown that a three-dimensional ion beam trajectory can be recovered from a pair of perspectively projected trajectory images. The reconstruction considers effects due to finite beam size, nonuniform beam current density, and image background noise. Third, it is demonstrated that the trajectory reconstructed from camera images can help compute magnetic field profiles, and might be used as an additional constraint to an equilibrium reconstruction code, such as MSTFit.