Expansion of ions in conducting fluids with imbedded magnetic fields

Studies of application of inertial confinement fusion motivated the development of a plasma model composed of (1) a perfectly conducting fluid, (2) relatively energetic ions not in thermal equilibrium with the fluid, and (3) an electromagnetic field. Trajectories of the ions are determined from integration of the equations of motion for a statistically representative sample of simulation particles because the ion ranges in the fluid are comparable to characteristic dimensions of containment vessels. The model constituents interact through electrodynamic and collisional forces, and through ionization and/or recombination processes. The finite difference equations describing these interactions are integrated numerically for an isotropic ion source located on the cylinder axis. The solutions indicate distinctly different behaviors for low and high fluid densities. The ions expand in a diffuse cloud through low-density fluids, but in high-density fluids the ions aggregate into sheets that are perpendicular to the magnetic field