Dynamics of intense relativistic electron beams in toroidal fields

Intense relativistic electron beams were propagated around a 180° toroidal sector to study beam dynamics in toroidal fields. The major beam drift under conditions for neutralization of self‐fields was along ‐ R × B and scaled as γZ/B_t, where Z is the propagated distance, B_t the toroidal field, and γ the relativistic factor. This is indicative of curvature and $\nabla \mathbf{B}$ drifts. Use of conducting walls caused an additional F × B drift around the chamber due to image current forces. Analysis of the distortion of a propagating rectangular beam shows that beam electrons follow field lines. Preliminary experiments on counterstreaming beams show inefficient reflection of beams from opposing diodes. Application of these results to beam injection and confinement in toroidal magnetic fields is discussed.