Propagation of Charged Particle Beams in the Atmosphere

Abstract

The basic physical processes is reviewed involved in charge particle beam propagation, in a self-pinched mode, in the atmosphere or other dense neutral gases. These processes include single-particle collisional and radiative energy losses, collective energy loss, radial expansion due to scattering, and instabilities. Each of these imposes requirements and limitations on beam propagation. Highly relativistic electron beams are the main subject. Ion beam physics is similar but more complex (because ultra-relativistic approximations are inappropriate), and has been less studied. Keywords: Charged particle beams; Relativistic electron beams; Beam propagation.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Mar 04, 1988
Accession Number
ADA193185

Entities

People

  • Mártin Lampe

Organizations

  • United States Naval Research Laboratory

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Energy and Power Technologies
  • Weapons Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Air Force
  • Charged Particles
  • Directed Energy Weapons
  • Dispersion Relations
  • Electric Fields
  • Electron Beams
  • Electrons
  • Equations
  • High Energy
  • Magnetic Fields
  • Particle Accelerators
  • Particle Beams
  • Physics
  • Physics Laboratories
  • Scattering
  • Simulations
  • Standards

Fields of Study

  • Physics

Readers

  • Plasma Physics / Magnetohydrodynamics

Technology Areas

  • Directed Energy
  • Microelectronics