Inertial-Electrostatic Confinement Modeling, Parametric Variation, and Comparison to Experiments

In inertial-electrostatic confinement (IEC), a high voltage accelerates ions between concentric, nearly transparent grids, usually in spherical geometry. For typical parameters ($\sim$0.3~Pa$\approx$2~mTorr, $\sim$100~kV, $\sim$30~mA, $\sim$0.5~m anode diameter), atomic and molecular processes dominate operation. A numerically solved integral equation approach to modeling $D^+$, $D_2^+$, and $D_3^+$ ions passing radially through $D_2$ background gas~[1] will be summarized. The approach yields the energy spectra of ions and neutrals plus the neutron production. Parametric surveys and comparisons with experimental data for a University of Wisconsin IEC device will be presented.\\[4pt] [1] G.A. Emmert and J.F. Santarius, ``Atomic and Molecular Effects on Spherically Convergent Ion Flow~I: Single Atomic Species'' and ``Atomic and Molecular Effects on Spherically Convergent Ion Flow~II: Multiple Molecular Species,'' submitted to {\it Physics of Plasmas} (2009).