Erlangen 2026 – wissenschaftliches Programm

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P: Fachverband Plasmaphysik

P 16: Poster Session Plasma Physics

P 16.39: Poster

Donnerstag, 19. März 2026, 13:45–15:45, Redoutensaal

Full-wave Simulations of Helicon Waves for Plasma Wakefield Accelerators — •Luis Carlos Herrera Quesada¹, Nils Fahrenkamp², Stefan Knauer², Peter Manz², Günter Tovar¹, and Alf Köhn-Seemann¹ — ¹IGVP, University of Stuttgart — ²University of Greifswald

The plasma wakefield mechanism appears as a solution to produce particles with higher energies than circular accelerators. To achieve the necessary high electric fields, the plasma medium must have a large electron density to create strong gradients. Helicon plasma discharges allow to achieve the plasma densities necessary for effective plasma wakefield accelerators. This study aims to understand helicon wave propagation in linear devices for plasma wakefield optimization and the influence of different antenna geometries on the efficiency of helicon wave excitation. Furthermore, the evolution of the radial plasma density gradient on the coupling to the helicon wave is studied. Numerical modeling of helicon discharges is made using a finite element method (FEM) analysis through the COMSOL Multiphysics code package. Antennas are modeled using the AC/DC and RF modules, then the plasma column response is simulated using the Plasma module. In parallel, the 3D finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) code FHELI (FOCAL for HELIcon) is used for comparative analysis. The code solves the Maxwell equations in conjunction with the fluid motion equation for electrons in a cold magnetized plasma. The numerical scenarios are based on the VINETA.75 device parameters and geometry.

Keywords: Helicon; Wakefield; Simulation; Density; Geometry