Longitudinal instabilities of pulseline driven neutralized linear ion accelerators

Linear accelerators driven by pulse forming networks and utilizing beam neutralization may be useful for obtaining high-current ion beams for inertial fusion applications. Such accelerators may be subject to longitudinal velocity bunching instabilities. These instabilities are studied with a computer simulation of longitudinal ion dynamics. It is found that they are stabilized by a velocity spread in the beam distribution determined by the properties of the pulselines. The required velocity spread does not preclude obtaining beams of sufficient quality for fusion applications.