Survey of Collective Instabilities and Beam-Plasma Interactions in Intense
Heavy Ion Beams
Ronald C. Davidson, Mikhail A. Dorf, Igor D. Kaganovich, Hong Qin, Adam Sefkow and
Edward A. Startsev
Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory, Princeton, New Jersey, USA
Dale R. Welch and David V. Rose
Voss Scientific, Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA
Steven M. Lund
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, California, USA
Abstract
This paper presents a survey of the present theoretical understanding based on advanced
analytical and numerical studies of collective processes and beam-plasma interactions in intense
heavy ion beams for applications to ion-beam-driven high energy density physics and heavy ion
fusion. The topics include: discussion of the conditions for quiescent beam propagation over long
distances; and the electrostatic Harris instability and the transverse electromagnetic Weibel
instability in highly anisotropic, intense one-component ion beams. In the longitudinal drift
compression and transverse compression regions, collective processes associated with the
interaction of the intense ion beam with a charge-neutralizing background plasma are described,
including the electrostatic electron-ion two-stream instability, the multispecies electromagnetic
Weibel instability, and collective excitations in the presence of a solenoidal magnetic field. The
effects of a velocity tilt on reducing two-stream instability growth rates are also discussed.
Operating regimes are identified where the possible deleterious effects of collective processes on
beam quality are minimized.
I. INTRODUCTION
This paper presents a survey of the present theoretical understanding based on advanced
analytical and numerical studies of collective processes and beam-plasma interactions in intense
heavy ion beams for applications to ion-beam-driven high energy density physics and heavy ion