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Title: Deuteron Acceleration and Fusion Neutron Production in Z-pinch plasmas

Journal Article · · AIP Conference Proceedings
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.3079739· OSTI ID:21255349
; ; ;  [1]; ; ; ; ; ; ;  [2]
  1. Czech Technical University, Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Department of Physics, Technicka 2, 166 27 Prague 6 (Czech Republic)
  2. Russian Research Center Kurchatov Institute, 1 Kurchatov Sq., 123182 Moscow (Russian Federation)

Fusion neutron measurements were carried out on the S-300 generator (Kurchatov Institute, Moscow). We tried deuterated fibers, various types of wire arrays imploding onto a deuterated fiber, and deuterium gas puffs as Z-pinch loads. On the current level of 2 MA, the peak neutron yield of 10{sup 10} was achieved with a deuterium gas-puff. The neutron and deuteron energy spectra were quite similar in various types of Z-pinch configurations. The broad width of radial neutron spectra implied a high radial component of deuteron velocity. On the basis of neutron measurements, we concluded that neutron production mechanism is connected with the study of plasma voltage. It means that the acceleration of fast deuterons is not a secondary process but it reflects the global dynamics of Z-pinch plasmas. For this reason it is useful to add deuterium as a 'tracer' in Z-pinch loads more often. For instance, it seems attractive to prepare wire-arrays from deuterated metal wires such as Pd.

OSTI ID:
21255349
Journal Information:
AIP Conference Proceedings, Vol. 1088, Issue 1; Conference: 7. international conference on dense Z-pinches, Alexandria, VA (United States), 12-21 Aug 2008; Other Information: DOI: 10.1063/1.3079739; (c) 2009 American Institute of Physics; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0094-243X
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

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