First Confinement Time Evaluation for Particles Axially Injected into a Non-Adiabatic Trap

This study presents the first detailed investigation of confinement times in non-adiabatic traps during the axial injection of thermal plasma from the mirror edge, using particle trajectory calculations. Plasma is supplied from a coaxially positioned plasma source through an orifice with a ring-shaped aperture. The results of the analysis show that the longest confinement time occurs when the ring radius of the aperture is approximately equal to the ion Larmor radius at the mirror region. Under these conditions, the confinement time is found to be approximately four times the time it takes for particles to traverse the device length at thermal velocity.