On the lon Distribution Function around the Plug in a Tandem Mirror

It is shown that the plug potential is formed only with flow ions accelerated by the thermal barrier potential and non-Maxwellian electrons due to the electron cyclotron resonance heating in the plug/ thermal barrier region of a tandem mirror. For the purpose to display the plug potential formation, the Monte-Carlo simulation has been carried out, where the effect of coulomb collisions are included.