Comparison of particle-in-cell simulation with experiment for the transport system of the superconducting electron cyclotron resonance ion source VENUS

The three-dimensional, particle-in-cell code WARP has been enhanced to allow end-to-end beam dynamics simulations of the VENUS beam transport system from the extraction region, through a mass-analyzing magnet, and up to a two-axis emittance scanner. This article presents the first results of comparisons between the simulation and experimental data. A helium beam (⁠$He+$ and $He2+$⁠) is chosen as an initial comparison beam due to its simple mass spectrum. Although a number of simplifications are made for the initial extracted beam, aberration characteristics appear in simulations that are also present in experimental phase-space current-density measurements. Further, measurements of phase-space tilt indicate that simulations must have little or no space-charge neutralization along the transport system to best agree with experiment. In addition, recent measurements of triangular beam structure immediately after the source are presented. This beam structure is related to the source magnetic confinement fields and will need to be taken into account as the initial beam approximations are lifted.