The 4th International Conference on Matter and Radiation at Extremes (ICMRE 2019)

421 / 2019-03-13 11:33:24

Particle-in-cell simulation of propagation of intense proton beams in gas plasmas: role of hydrodynamic instabilities

Beam plasma interaction; Sausage instability; Kink instability; Focusing

Plenary track > Fundamental Physics at Extremes

Beam-plasma instabilities play a significant role in the interaction of particles with matter. Here we demonstrate the formation and development of sausage instability and kink instability during beam-plasma interaction, which usually appear in Z-pinch inertial confinement fusion research. To analyse these instabilities, the transport of proton beams through plasmas with density of 10²² m^-3 is simulated with a two dimensional (2D) particle-in-cell (PIC) code. The simulation reveals that the density of proton beams increases due to the focusing of beams, which is related to sausage instability. As the beam density raises, proton beams are forced to bend by the kink instability while propagating along plasma channels. We reveal how these two instabilities are formed. Moreover, the corresponding ways to stabilize the propagation of beams are discussed.