DYNAMION—A Powerful Beam Dynamics Software Package for the Development of Ion Linear Accelerators and Decelerators

Abstract

Numerous ambitious particle accelerator facilities, based on proton and ion linear accelerators, have recently been in development for fundamental research, as well as for industrial applications. The advanced design of such new machines, as well as the upgrade and optimization of existing linacs, requires adequate, precise and reliable tools to simulate beam dynamics. The software package DYNAMION, created about 30 years ago, is undergoing systematic improvement and further development in order to characterize modern ion linacs and to provide solutions for its intrinsic complex problems. The DYNAMION code features Front to End beam dynamics simulations under space charge conditions in a linac system, comprising an arbitrary sequence of accelerating-focusing structures and beam transport lines. The evolution of a macroparticle ensemble could be analyzed at a high level of specification. A 3D distribution of the external electrical field (RFQ, DTL) is modeled using integrated internal solvers. Optionally, a 3D electromagnetic field mapping, supplied by specialized external codes, could be used. The recent status of the DYNAMION software package is presented in this paper. Furthermore, the performance of the code is demonstrated on the basis of its application for various linear accelerator/decelerator projects.