Long-Term Confinement of Dense Positron Plasma

Efforts to increase the storage levels of positrons in Penning-Malmberg and other types of traps are important for many applications. Positronics Research LLC (PRLLC) is developing a storage trap that will host several positron, electron, and mixed plasma experiments intended to maximize storage conditions for positrons with acceptable lifetimes. A warm-bore 5 T cryomagnet with three independently controlled solenoids is used for experiment. The central solenoid is used for Penning-Malmberg trap studies. The end coils are used for magnetic mirror and other pinch-storage research experiments. The end potentials of the Penning-Malmberg trap will be raised to 100 kV, creating an effective well of length 100 cm. Optimization of the radio-frequency drive system, designed to control the plasma using Trivelpiece-Gould modes, and assessment of diocotron instabilities of the non-neutral plasma are being investigated using a 16-node, distributed Linux cluster