Integrated Modeling of ECR Charge Breeder Ion Sources

ECR (Electron Cyclotron Resonance) charge breeders are one of the best candidates for producing highly-charged and multi-charged radioactive ions, needed for particle accelerators, atomic physics experiments, and industrial applications. To achieve this production, mono-charged beams are transported to an ECRIS (ECR ion source) device, which takes singly-charged ions and breeds them to a highly charged state. Simulations could allow the design of multi-million dollar ion sources to be based on a sound physical understanding, rather than vague scaling laws. Thus far, the focus has been on simulations in the plasma, between the two plasma sheaths at the entry and exit of the ECRIS device. However, for complete modeling, these plasma sheaths must be taken into account, because they could play a crucial role in ion source dynamics. This project will develop and validate an integrated modeling toolset for ECR charge breeders. In particular, a plasma sheath module that can be linked to previously-developed codes will be developed. In Phase I, the plasma sheath will be modeled using adaptive meshes to accurately and efficiently capture the multiple spatial scale nature of the problem. The module will be linked to previously-developed ECR-charge-breeder codes, in order to optimize beam capture and breeding efficiencies in an ECR-charge-breeder ion-source device. Commercial Applications And Other Benefits as described by the Applicant: The numerical optimization of multiply charged (radioactive) ion sources should provide a distinct advantage by minimizing expensive experimental trial and error optimization. A direct application is to the DOE¿s Radioactive Isotope Accelerator (RIA) project. In addition, an efficient predictable three-dimensional ion source code would have application in Heavy Ion Fusion, High Energy Density Physics, ion lithography, etc