Influence of the Anode Length on the Neutron Emission of a 50 J Plasma Focus: Modeling and Experiment

Clausse, Alejandro; Soto, Leopoldo; Tarifeño-Saldivia, Ariel

doi:10.1109/tps.2014.2376412

Cited by 6 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 46 publications

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“…where r a is the external anode radius and m o is the permeability of vacuum, which has been reported as a significant operational magnitude in small plasma foci [34]. Interestingly, within the experimental uncertainties all the data points can be cast in a single correlation independent of the cathode configuration, namely:…”

Section: Current Sheath Kinematicsmentioning

confidence: 88%

“…Taking into account that the shape and trajectory of the current sheath is essentially the same for all the shots, it is usually assumed that the number of deuterons in the pinch is proportional to the charging pressure [20,27,34]. This being the case, the number of deuterons pairs is proportional to the square of the pressure.…”

Section: Neutronsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…An accepted fact is, for example, that the neutron yield of a given plasma-focus device varies depending on the pressure, the charging voltage and the geometry of the electrodes. The physics of the pinches, which is where the fusion reactions responsible for the emissions take place, is still an open issue and, albeit there have been advances in this matter [20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28], more experimental data is needed to get better insight to feed the theory [29][30][31][32][33][34].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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A study of the effects of the cathode configuration on the plasma kinetics and neutron emission of plasma-focus discharges in deuterium

Barbaglia

Giovachini

Milanese

et al. 2020

Plasma Phys. Control. Fusion

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The differences in performance of a 1.9 kJ plasma-focus device PACO assembled with three different cathode configurations are experimentally qualified. In particular, the current sheath kinetics and the neutron yield operating with deuterium gas are systematically studied for the whole range of neutron-producing pressures, and the measurements are analyzed searching for relations between relevant physical magnitudes. The pinching time was found correlated with the dimensionless driver parameter, and this feature was found statistically independent of the cathode. The variation of the inductance jump associated with the radial collapse stage is used to estimate the effective pinch length, ( )  7.3 1.6 mm, and radius, ( )  3.6 2.1 mm. The maximum production in a single shot was registered for the smallest cathode radius, 41 mm, whereas the intermediate cathode radius, 45 mm, scored better in average. In all configurations, the neutrons per deuteron pair correlates fairly well with an estimation of the effective equilibrium temperature of the pinch, which suggests a prevalence of thermonuclear neutrons measured perpendicularly to the focus axis.

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Section: Current Sheath Kinematicsmentioning

confidence: 88%

Section: Neutronsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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A study of the effects of the cathode configuration on the plasma kinetics and neutron emission of plasma-focus discharges in deuterium

Barbaglia

Giovachini

Milanese

et al. 2020

Plasma Phys. Control. Fusion

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…The electrodes of our device are inspired by the work reported in [29] and consist of a copper anode, a borosilicate glass tube insulator, and 6 posts to form the cathode. The inner anode cylinder has an OD of 5.6 mm and an exposed length of 15 mm; the tip is aligned to the height of the cathode posts.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Simultaneous Ultra-Fast Imaging and Neutron Emission from a Compact Dense Plasma Focus Fusion Device

et al. 2018

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Recently, there has been intense interest in small dense plasma focus (DPF) devices for use as pulsed neutron and X-ray sources. Although DPFs have been studied for decades and scaling laws for neutron yield versus system discharge current and energy have been established (Milanese, M. et al., Eur. Phys. J. D 2003, 27, 77-81), there are notable deviations at low energies due to contributions from both thermonuclear and beam-target interactions (Schmidt, A. et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 2012, 109, 1-4). For low energy DPFs (100 s of Joules), other empirical scaling laws have been found (Bures, B.L. et al., Phys. Plasmas 2012, 112702, 1-9). Although theoretical mechanisms to explain this change have been proposed, the cause of this reduced efficiency is not well understood. A new apparatus with advanced diagnostic capabilities allows us to probe this regime, including variants in which a piston gas is employed. Several complementary diagnostics of the pinch dynamics and resulting X-ray neutron production are employed to understand the underlying mechanisms involved. This apparatus is unique in its employment of a 50 fs laser-based shadowgraphy system that possesses unprecedented spatio-temporal resolution.

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Deuterium Plasma Focus as a Tool for Testing Materials of Plasma Facing Walls in Thermonuclear Fusion Reactors

et al. 2016

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Influence of the Anode Length on the Neutron Emission of a 50 J Plasma Focus: Modeling and Experiment

Cited by 6 publications

References 46 publications

A study of the effects of the cathode configuration on the plasma kinetics and neutron emission of plasma-focus discharges in deuterium

A study of the effects of the cathode configuration on the plasma kinetics and neutron emission of plasma-focus discharges in deuterium

Simultaneous Ultra-Fast Imaging and Neutron Emission from a Compact Dense Plasma Focus Fusion Device

Deuterium Plasma Focus as a Tool for Testing Materials of Plasma Facing Walls in Thermonuclear Fusion Reactors

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