Numerical simulation of the Polywell device

Recent ideas concerning inertial-electrostatic confinement (IEC) of fusion plasmas coupled with recent experimental results have motivated looking at the problem of confinement of these plasmas in both the gridded (pure electrostatic) and magnetically assisted (via confinement of high beta plasmas in a magnetic cusp) configuration. Questions exist as to the nature of the potential well structure and the confinement properties of high beta plasmas in magnetic cusp configurations. This work focuses on the magnetically assisted concept known as the Polywell trademark. Results are reported on the numerical simulation of IEC plasmas aimed at answering some of these questions. In particular the authors focus on two aspects of the Polywell, namely the structure of the magnetic cusp field in the Polywell configuration and the nature of the confinement of a high beta plasma in a magnetic cusp field. The existence of line cusps in the Polywell is still in dispute. A computer code for modeling the magnetic field structure and mod-B surface has been written and results are presented for the Polywell. Another source of controversy is the nature of the confinement of a high beta plasma in a magnetic cusp, and in particular in the polywell. Results from 2-D Particle In Cell (PIC) simulations aimed at answering some of these questions are presented