Acceleration Mechanism for Neutron Production in Plasma Focus and z-Pinch Discharges

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
A model has been developed for the acceleration of deuterons in the tightly compressed column of a z ‐pinch discharge, in particular, that of a plasma focus discharge. It was assumed that an annular distribution of current undergoes a rapidly contracting transition to a distribution peaked on axis and the resulting crossed fields, B θ and E z , were used to calculate deuteron trajectories in the plasma. These results show that a significant number of ions can be accelerated to energies of up to 600 keV and that they have a large value for their time‐averaged axial velocities. The orbiting motion in the magnetic field produces an anisotropic distribution of collision velocities and a neutron‐production model based upon nuclear collisions by these deuterons can account for the measured characteristics of neutron energies, neutron fluxes, and rates of production.