A set of experiments has been performed on the High-Current Experiment (HCX) facility at LBNL, in which the ion beam is allowed to collide with an end plate and thereby induce a copious supply of desorbed electrons. Through the use of combinations of biased and grounded electrodes positioned in between and downstream of the quadrupole magnets, the flow of electrons upstream into the magnets can be turned on or off. Properties of the resultant ion beam are measured under each condition. The experiment is modeled via a full three-dimensional, two species (electron and ion) particle simulation, as well as via reduced simulations (ions with appropriately chosen model electron cloud distributions, and a high-resolution simulation of the region adjacent to the end plate). The three-dimensional simulations are the first of their kind and the first to make use of a timestep-acceleration scheme that allows the electrons to be advanced with a timestep that is not small compared to the highest electron cyclotron period. The simulations reproduce qualitative aspects of the experiments, illustrate some unanticipated physical effects, and serve as an important demonstration of a developing simulation capability.

Stray electrons can arise in positive-ion accelerators for heavy ion fusion or other applications as a result of ionization of ambient gas or gas released from walls due to halo-ion impact, or as a result of secondary- electron emission. We summarize results from several studies undertaken in conjunction with an effort to develop a self-consistent modeling capability: (1) Calculation of the electron cloud produced by electron desorption from computed beam-ion loss, which illustrates the importance of retaining ion reflection at the walls; (2) Simulation of the effect of specified electron cloud distributions on ion beam dynamics; and (3) analysis of an instability associated with a resonance between the beam-envelope ''breathing'' mode and the electron perturbation. We also report first results from a long-timestep algorithm for electron dynamics, which holds promise for efficient simultaneous solution of electron and ion dynamics. One conclusion from study (2) is that heavy-ion beams are surprisingly robust to electron clouds, compared to a priori expectations.