Measurements and computer modeling of fast ion emission from plasma accelerators of the rod plasma injector type

Abstract

This paper reports on the results of experimental studies and computer simulations of the emission of fast ion streams from so-called rod plasma injectors (RPI). Various RPI facilities have been used at the National Centre for Nuclear Research (NCBJ) for basic plasma studies as well as for material engineering. In fact, the RPI facilities have been studied experimentally for many years, particularly at the Institute for Nuclear Sciences (now the NCBJ), and numerous experimental data have been collected. Unfortunately, the ion emission characteristics have so far not been explained theoretically in a satisfactory way. In this paper, in order to explain these characteristics, use was made of a single-particle model. Taking into account the stochastic character of the ion emission, we applied a Monte Carlo method. The performed computer simulations of a pinhole image and energy spectrum of deuterons emitted from RPI-IBIS, which were computed on the basis of the applied model, appeared to be in reasonable agreement with the experimental data.