Recent TWOQUICK particle simulations of one- and two- stage transmission lines and diodes on PBFA and SABRE

This paper presents recent particle simulation studies of the pulsed-power machines PBFA and SABRE. The code used is the 2-D electromagnetic TWOQUICK. For SABRE we emphasize the single-stage case and compare with experiment. Here the voltage adder, magnetically-insulated-transmission-line (MITL), and proton applied-B extraction diode are all included in the fully time-dependent simulations. Results include vacuum wave precursor effects vs. cathode turn-on threshold, and the sheath-retrapping benefits of diode undermatching. For PBFA we emphasize the 2-stage case and compare with experiments using lithium ions. Here we include the transmission lines and MITLs feeding the 2-stage barrel diode. Results show that good operation is critically dependent on careful B-field shaping in the feeds and diode.