Longitudinal bunching factors in excess of 70 of a 300-keV, 27-mA ${\mathrm{K}}^{+}$ ion beam have been demonstrated in the neutralized drift compression experiment [P. K. Roy et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 95, 234801 (2005)] in rough agreement with particle-in-cell source-to-target simulations. A key aspect of these experiments is that a preformed plasma provides charge neutralization of the ion beam in the last one meter drift region where the beam perveance becomes large. The simulations utilize the measured ion source temperature, diode voltage, and induction-bunching-module voltage waveforms in order to determine the initial beam longitudinal phase space which is critical to accurate modeling of the longitudinal compression. To enable simultaneous longitudinal and transverse compression, numerical simulations were used in the design of the solenoidal focusing system that compensated for the impact of the applied velocity tilt on the transverse phase space of the beam. Complete source-to-target simulations, that include detailed modeling of the diode, magnetic transport, induction bunching module, and plasma neutralized transport, were critical to understanding the interplay between the various accelerator components in the experiment. Here, we compare simulation results with the experiment and discuss the contributions to longitudinal and transverse emittance that limit the final compression.

• Received 8 February 2008

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevSTAB.11.064701

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