Integrated Modeling Tool for Electron-Beam Based Ion-Sources

Production of highly charge ions, in particular are 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 a pure high-charge state. 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 non-uniform and adaptive grids for efficient computation and to accurately handle multi-scale problems. 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 electron-beam based ion-sources may provide critical information about the origin of the elements, fundamental nuclear processes and the evolution of the cosmos. They also have commercial applications with nuclear medicine and imaging. The numerical tool can be adapted to other fields of science such as accelerators and plasma related problems