Session KP01 - Poster Session III.
POSTER session, Tuesday afternoon, March 23
Exhibit Hall, GWCC
The formation of a double-well potential structure in a spherical inertial electrostatic confinement (SIEC) device has received considerable theoretic study by various researchers. High ion densities in the center core are generally attributed to the resulting potential trap. We present a simple theoretical model to explain virtual well structures, despite the divergent ion beam produced by the finite structure of the accelerating grid. A simple analysis shows that the localization of charged particles is approximated by the device radius multiplied by the beam divergent angle. The divergence angle for electrons can be much smaller than for ions. Consequently ion-electron charge variations are localized, producing a virtual well. This model will be compared with parametric data obtained from experiments.