FAR-TECH, Inc. is a leader in the field of numerical simulation of sources of highly charged ions. Utilizing our expertise in both beam and plasma physics, we have developed a suite of numerical codes for modeling electron cyclotron resonance ion sources (ECRIS) and electron beam ion sources (EBIS):

GEM: Our Generalized ECRIS Model is a comprehensive numerical model of the ECRIS plasma. The user inputs experimental settings such as the microwave power and gas pressure, and the code calculates the distribution of electrons and all ion species self-consistently. A sophisticated Fokker-Planck module allows the code to model the evolution of the highly non-Maxwellian electron distribution function all the way to steady state, and sophisticated fluid modeling of the ions allows the extracted charge state distribution to be predicted without resorting to arbitrary assumptions about the ion confinement time.

MCBC: Our Monte-Carlo Charge Breeding Code can model the capture and charge breeding of a beam of ions injected into a plasma. The code models Coulomb collisions and atomic processes such as electron impact ionization, charge exchange, and recombination.

IonEx: IonEx models the extraction of ions from an ECRIS. Electron and ion space charge fields are both included self-consistently so as to accurately model the shape of the “plasma-meniscus” which determines the emittance of the extracted beam. IonEx is the only beam extraction code that uses the Particle-In-Cloud-Of-Points (PICOP) algorithm, an adaptive, meshfree technique that allows very complex geometries to be accurately modeled.
IonEx has a user-friendly Graphical User Interface which makes it easy to enter simulation parameters, run the simulation, and view the results with a variety of post-processing plots. The code is capable of running simulations with multiple species. It can be run as a stand-alone code or linked to FAR-TECH’s MCBC and GEM codes.

FAR-TECH is currently adapting its suite of codes to model electron beam ion sources (EBIS). There are many similarities between the two types of sources, allowing much of our work on ECRIS to be transferred to EBIS. Due to the pulsed nature of EBIS operation, we are extending the codes to model both time-dependent and steady state sources.

MPPT: Our Massively Parallel Particle Tracker integrates: (i) the relativistic or (ii) non-relativistic equations of motion for a charged particle in an electromagnetic field (including RF fields) or (iii) the drift kinetic equations. The code includes several post-processing diagnostics such as time dependent trajectory data, density and temperature profiles, and histogram and distribution functions.

MPPT can accurately resolve the detailed dynamics of individual electron interactions with the RF field and provide information on the evolution of the electron distribution function due to electron cyclotron resonance heating.

FAR-TECH, Inc. has also created an Electron Cyclotron Resonance Ion Source video, which provides some insight into how ECRIS works.