Chamber propagation physics for heavy ion fusion

Chamber transport is a key area of study for heavy ion fusion. Final focus and chamber transport are high leverage areas providing opportunities to decrease significantly the cost of electricity from a heavy ion fusion power plant. Chamber transport in two basic regimes is under consideration. In the low chamber density regime (below about 0.003 Torr), ballistic or nearly ballistic transport is used. Partial beam neutralization has been studied to offset the effects of beam stripping. In the high chamber density regime (above about 0.1 Torr), two transport modes (pinched transport and channel transport) are under investigation. Both involve focusing the beam outside the chamber and then transporting it at small radius (about 2 mm). Both high chamber density modes relax the constraints on the beam quality needed from the accelerator which will reduce the driver cost and the cost of electricity.