A scientific concept referred to as a “force field” is defined as a short-range, static electromagnetic field thatcan reflect a charged particle of either sign of charge that approaches at any angle of incidence. A force field is envisionedas consisting of a spatially periodic sequence of magnetic cusps that are electrostatically plugged using appliedelectrostatic voltage variations similar to those found in nested Penning traps. The effective range of the force field wouldbe small compared to the dimensions of a nearby source of charged particles, such as a plasma confined by the force field.A theoretical understanding is developed of the single-particle reflection properties of a force field, considering theincident charged particles to have a non-drifting, isotropic velocity distribution. Classical trajectory Monte Carlosimulations and analytical modeling are employed. The initiation of an experimental effort to study force fields isdescribed.
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