Destabilization of a cylindrically confined electron cloud by impact ionization of background neutrals: 2D3v PIC simulation with Monte-Carlo-collisions

Abstract

In this paper, we have investigated, through simulation, the process of destabilization of a cylindrically confined electron cloud due to the presence of a single species of neutral atoms, Ar in the background of the trap at a pressure relevant to experiments. The destabilization occurs because of a gradual accumulation of Ar+ in the cloud by the electron-impact ionization of the background neutrals. The trapped ions gradually collectively form a sizeable ion cloud which engages in a rotational two-stream instability (the ion resonance instability) with the electron cloud. The instability excites a growing fundamental diocotron mode on both components of the mixed non-neutral cloud. With the help of a set of numerical diagnostics, we have investigated the nonlinear evolution of the excited fundamental mode under the combined influence of two ongoing processes viz, (i) the changing electron and ion populations caused by electron impact ionization of the background Ar, and also by the radial loss of both charged species to the grounded trap wall at later stages and (ii) the elastic scattering of electrons and ions that make non-ionizing collisions with the background neutrals. The 2D collisionless dynamics of the instability has been simulated using a 2D Particle-in-Cell code operating on a Cartesian grid laid out on the cylindrical trap's cross-section, and the 3D ionizing and non-ionizing collisions between charged particles and background neutrals have been simulated using the technique of Monte-Carlo-Collisions.