Optimized simultaneous transverse and longitudinal focusing of intense ion beam pulses for warm dense matter applications

Intense, space-charge-dominated ion beam pulses for warm dense matter and heavy ion fusion applications must undergo simultaneous transverse and longitudinal bunch compression in order to meet the requisite beam intensities desired at the target. The longitudinal compression of an ion bunch is achieved by imposing an initial axial velocity tilt on the drifting beam and subsequently neutralizing its space-charge and current in a drift region filled with high-density plasma. The Neutralized Drift Compression Experiment (NDCX) at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory has measured a sixty-fold longitudinal current compression of an intense ion beam with pulse duration of a few nanoseconds, in agreement with simulations and theory. A strong solenoid is modeled near the end of the drift region in order to transversely focus the beam to a sub-millimeter spot size coincident with the longitudinal focal plane. The charge and current neutralization provided by the background plasma is critical in determining the total achievable transverse and longitudinal compression of the beam pulse. Numerical simulations show that the current density of an NDCX ion beam can be compressed over a few meters by factors greater than 10⁵ with peak beam density in excess of 10¹⁴ cm^-3. The peak beam density sets a lower bound on the local plasma density required near the focal plane for optimal beam compression, since the simulations show stagnation of the compression when n_beam>n_plasma. Beam-plasma interactions can also have a deleterious effect on the compression physics and lead to the formation of nonlinear wave excitations in the plasma. Simulations that optimize designs for the simultaneous transverse and longitudinal focusing of an NDCX ion beam for future warm dense matter experiments are discussed.