Integrated Modeling Tool for Electron-Beam Based Ion-Sources

Production of highly charged ions, in particular isotope ion beams, is a major effort worldwide, and in particular, in the Department of Energy, Office of Nuclear Physics Department. Rare isotope ion beams, with extreme proton-to-neutron ratios, provides insight into the synthesis of new elements and the discovery of rare nuclei. Charge-breeders based on Electron-Beam-Ion-Sources (EBIS) are a promising method to supply ions with high quality high-charge ion beams. Due to limited simulation tools interpretation of data and optimization of design are extremely limited. FAR-TECH proposes to develop an integrated simulation tool for electron-beam based ion-sources, through physics-based modeling and sophisticated state-of-art computational algorithms. The tool will be modularized for each physical process in an EBIS; steady state electron beam, ion trapping by Monte Carlo Collision, and charge breeding by particle-in-cell for self-consistent space-charge calculations. The tool utilizes multiple processors and optimized grids for efficient computation and to accurately handle multi- scale problems.A prototype of the simulation was developed and tested. Simulations of electron beam, ion injection and charge breeding were performed. Comparisons with experiments showed that the simulation is able to predict, within the limits of experimental uncertainty, the efficiency of different methods of ion injection and trapping. The prototype developed in Phase I will be developed into a full-fledged numerical tool. Additional physics will be incorporated to replace approximate models currently used. Numerical algorithms will be improved to increase the speed at which the simulations run. Simulation results will be validated against measurements on EBIS devices. Finally, the modules will have easy-to-use graphical-user-interface with comprehensive diagnostics (post-processor) aided by visualization. Commercial Applications and Other Benefits: A modularized simulation tool for electron-beam based ion-sources will guide and interpret current EBIS experiments; further assist design of new EBIS based charge breeders. The numerical tool can be applied to various ion-source modeling and of science such as accelerators and plasma related problems.