Paul trap simulator experiment to model intense-beam propagation in alternating-gradient transport systems.

The results presented here demonstrate that the Paul trap simulator experiment (PTSX) simulates the propagation of intense charged particle beams over distances of many kilometers through magnetic alternating-gradient (AG) transport systems by making use of the similarity between the transverse dynamics of particles in the two systems. Plasmas have been trapped that correspond to normalized intensity parameters s=omega(2)(p)(0)/2omega(2)(q)<or=0.8, where omega(p)(r) is the plasma frequency and omega(q) is the average transverse focusing frequency in the smooth-focusing approximation. The measured rms radius of the beam is consistent with a model, equally applicable to both PTSX and AG systems. The PTSX device confines one-component cesium ion plasmas for hundreds of milliseconds, which is equivalent to over 10 km of beam propagation.