Development of a Compact Evacuated Pulsed Neutron Source

Gow, J.D.; Pollock, H. C.

doi:10.1063/1.1716948

Cited by 24 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 8 publications

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“…The ion source starts operating due to the energy deposition into the electrodes that results in the formation of a plasma containing hydrogen isotopes. One of the main methods for producing such a plasma in neutron tubes, along with exposing the electrodes to laser radiation, is using vacuum arcs [1]. When an arc operates in the ion source, the electrodes are locally heated at the current-carrying sites.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Cathode and plasma phenomena in vacuum-arc sources of hydrogen isotope ions: I. Desorption of hydrogen isotopes during the operation of vacuum arc cathode spots

Uimanov

Shmelev

Окс

et al. 2020

Plasma Sources Sci. Technol.

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A model is proposed to describe the desorption of deuterium from a deuterated cathode during the operation of the vacuum arc cathode spot. The model treats a cathode spot as consisting of individual cells and involves a numerical simulation of the temperature fields that arise during the hydrodynamic processes responsible for the formation of microcraters on the cathode surface. Using a deuterated ZrD 0.67 cathode as an example, it is shown that the amount of deuterium desorbed immediately from the crater formed during the operation of the cathode spot cells is several times smaller than the total amount of desorbed deuterium. The main portion of deuterium is desorbed from the hot cathode region adjacent to the crater and from the crater at the stage of its cooling. For a deuterated ZrD 0.67 cathode, the percentage of desorbed deuterium can reach 80% of the total number of evaporated atoms, and it can be even greater if the cathode spot cells operate in the immediate vicinity of each other.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Cathode and plasma phenomena in vacuum-arc sources of hydrogen isotope ions: I. Desorption of hydrogen isotopes during the operation of vacuum arc cathode spots

Uimanov

Shmelev

Окс

et al. 2020

Plasma Sources Sci. Technol.

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“…The following sentence has been extracted from a '60 paper describing the development of a sealed-off vacuum tube used as sources of neutrons from fusion reaction [18]. 'It was found that ions could be produced from a vacuum arc struck between two electrodes of hydrogenated titanium, but the vacuum arc tended to strike erratically and at increasing higher threshold voltages'.…”

Section: Conclusion and Proposal Of A Possible Applicationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evidences of accumulation points in cascade regenerative phenomena observed in high voltage dc devices insulated by long vacuum gaps

et al. 2018

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Localized heating has been observed in unexpected positions on anodic surfaces in a multi-electrode device insulated by vacuum gaps. In double polarity experiments, a counter-intuitive behavior of current-voltage characteristic has also been observed. The phenomena could depend on a cascade effect of charged particles exchanged between electrodes and on a mutual correlation of particle trajectories between electrode surfaces occurring during the high voltage conditioning phase. Attractors regions ascribed to regenerative processes of charged particles between cathode and anode have been identified thanks to numerical simulations The position of the attractors depends only on electrode shape and the ratios of applied voltages. This finding suggests new perspectives in neutrons sources applications, where recurrent impacts of focused high energy hydrogen isotopes take place on solid hydride targets supported by metallic electrodes insulated by vacuum gaps.

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“…The ion source based on vacuum arc discharge has been widely applied in surface modification techniques, heavy ion accelerators, neutron generators and so on [3]. Vacuum arc discharge with a composite metal deuteride cathode is usually used as the deuterium (D) ion source in neutron generators [4]. As the core component of a neutron generator, the vacuum arc ion source with metal deuteride electrodes determines the overall performance of a neutron generator [5].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Three-fluid simulation of a cathode spot jet in vacuum arc discharge with a metal deuteride cathode

Sun¹,

Yang²,

Zhou³

2020

J. Phys. D: Appl. Phys.

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To study the physical process of a cathode spot jet in vacuum arc discharge with a metal deuteride cathode (TiD), a two-dimensional hydrodynamic model based on three-fluid theory is established in this paper. The ionization and recombination of the plasma are considered in this model. The total current of the cathode spot is set to 2-4 A. The simulation shows that: (1) for Ti ions, there are huge pressure gradients and D-Ti ion collisions (10 13 -10 14 Pa m −1 ) in both the axial and radial direction near the cathode spot region, therefore the plasma jet will expand rapidly in all directions. For D ions, the ion collisions (D-Ti) play an important role in the whole region of the cathode spot jet, resulting in the velocity of a deuterium ionbeing limited to a level close to the velocity of a titanium ion (u i ). (2) Due to the expansion of the cathode spot jet, the ion density decreased rapidly from 10 26 m −3 to 10 22 m −3 . Meanwhile, ion speed quickly reached a level of 10 4 m s −1 at a distance of 2 µm from the cathode spot. (3) When the current of the cathode spot is small (I = 2 A), deuterium ions obtained by the reaction path are significantly less than that obtained by the reaction path. However, with an increase in the cathode spot current, deuterium ions obtained by the two reaction paths are almost the same. (4) Finally, the plasma parameters of the cathode spot jet predicted by our numerical model are in good agreement with the experimental results.

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Development of a Compact Evacuated Pulsed Neutron Source

Cited by 24 publications

References 8 publications

Cathode and plasma phenomena in vacuum-arc sources of hydrogen isotope ions: I. Desorption of hydrogen isotopes during the operation of vacuum arc cathode spots

Cathode and plasma phenomena in vacuum-arc sources of hydrogen isotope ions: I. Desorption of hydrogen isotopes during the operation of vacuum arc cathode spots

Evidences of accumulation points in cascade regenerative phenomena observed in high voltage dc devices insulated by long vacuum gaps

Three-fluid simulation of a cathode spot jet in vacuum arc discharge with a metal deuteride cathode

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