Transport of an ion beam with an annular plasma channel

Stable transport of intense ion beams is necessary for ion-driven inertial confinement fusion (ICF).^1,2 A promising regime for self-pinched transport of an ion beam involves the injection of a <2 cm radius beam into a <200 mtorr gas. ³ Further benefit is gained from the pre-ionization of an annular plasma channel with inner radius roughly that of the beam radius. Given a plasma density roughly that of the beam, the plasma provides an initial source of electrons for charge neutralization. Significant confining currents useful for ICF have been calculated. We present recent electromagnetic simulations of this self-pinch scheme with and without a pre-formed plasma.