Generation and anisotropy of neutron emission from a condensed Z-pinch

Bakshaev, Yu. L.; Bryzgunov, V. A.; Vikhrev, V. V.; Volobuev, I. V.; Dan’ko, S. A.; Казаков, Е. Д.; Korolev, V. D.; Klír, D.; Mironenko-Marenkov, A. D.; Пименов, В. Г.; Смирнова, Е. А.; Ustroev, G. I.

doi:10.1134/s1063780x14060014

Cited by 13 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 19 publications

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“…In this work, which logically continues our previous experiments [3][4][5][6], we study the formation of high-temperature plasma in a Z-pinch made of deuterated microporous polyethylene at higher currents of about 2.5-3.5 MA on the Angara 5-1 facility. …”

Section: Introductionsupporting

confidence: 56%

“…According to calculations carried out in [6], in the experiments with deuterated loads under conditions similar to those on the Angara 5-1 facility, neutrons are emitted mainly from the HS. In those calculations, the plasma temperature and density in the HS corresponded to those measured experimentally, T i = 3-10 keV and n i = 10 22 cm -3 .…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In those experiments, the maximum neutron yield was 10 8 neutrons/shot. A considerable increase in the neutron yield (up to 6 × 10 9 neutrons/shot) was achieved when composite loads with a central neck made of microporous deuterated polyethylene with a density of 100 mg/cm 3 began to be used [5,6]. In those experiments, hot spots (HSs) with a lifetime of 4 ns and dimensions of ≥50 μm in the photon energy range of E > 2 keV were observed.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Measurements of the parameters of a condensed deuterated Z-pinch on the angara-5-1 facility

et al. 2016

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Results are presented from measurements of the parameters of high-temperature plasma in the Z-pinch neck formed when a current of up to 3.5 MA flows through a low-density polymer load. To enhance the effect of energy concentration, a deuterated microporous polyethylene neck with a mass density of 100 mg/cm 3 and diameter of 1-1.3 mm was placed in the central part of the load. During the discharge current pulse, short-lived local hot plasma spots with typical dimensions of about 200-300 μm formed in the neck region. Their formation was accompanied by the generation of soft X-ray pulses with photon energies of E > 0.8 keV and durations of 3-4 ns. The plasma electron temperature in the vicinity of the hot spot was measured from the vacuum UV emission spectra of the iron diagnostic admixture and was found to be about 200-400 eV. The appearance of hot plasma spots was also accompanied by neutron emission with the maximum yield of 3 × 10 10 neutrons/shot. The neutron energy spectra were studied by means of the time-of-flight method and were found to be anisotropic with respect to the direction of the discharge current.

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Section: Introductionsupporting

confidence: 56%

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Measurements of the parameters of a condensed deuterated Z-pinch on the angara-5-1 facility

et al. 2016

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“…Similar spectra have also been reported for 2 MA DPF experiments, 38 2 MA DPF PIC simulations, 39 and deuterated polyethylene Z-pinch experiments. 40 Due to this similarity between the synthetic spectra here and experimental spectra in the literature, it is tempting to conclude that the same mechanisms are responsible for neutron production in the simulations and experiments. In this section, we analyze the kinetics of neutron spectra production in greater detail in order to gain some insights into the uniqueness of the spectra shown in Sec.…”

Section: Analyzing Fusion Neutron Spectramentioning

confidence: 99%

“…40,[46][47][48] However, in order to account for anisotropic neutron spectra, parameters defining the angular variation of the ion distribution function must also be introduced. It is not yet known how to relate the parameters used for such a fitting to the physical mechanisms of neutron production.…”

Section: Spectra With a Lower Energy Peakmentioning

confidence: 99%

Neutron spectra from beam-target reactions in dense Z-pinches

Appelbe

Chittenden

2015

Physics of Plasmas

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The energy spectrum of neutrons emitted by a range of deuterium and deuterium-tritium Z-pinch devices is investigated computationally using a hybrid kinetic-MHD model. 3D MHD simulations are used to model the implosion, stagnation, and break-up of dense plasma focus devices at currents of 70 kA, 500 kA, and 2 MA and also a 15 MA gas puff. Instabilities in the MHD simulations generate large electric and magnetic fields, which accelerate ions during the stagnation and break-up phases. A kinetic model is used to calculate the trajectories of these ions and the neutron spectra produced due to the interaction of these ions with the background plasma. It is found that these beam-target neutron spectra are sensitive to the electric and magnetic fields at stagnation resulting in significant differences in the spectra emitted by each device. Most notably, magnetization of the accelerated ions causes the beam-target spectra to be isotropic for the gas puff simulations. It is also shown that beam-target spectra can have a peak intensity located at a lower energy than the peak intensity of a thermonuclear spectrum. A number of other differences in the shapes of beam-target and thermonuclear spectra are also observed for each device. Finally, significant differences between the shapes of beam-target DD and DT neutron spectra, due to differences in the reaction cross-sections, are illustrated.

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Deuterium z-pinch as a powerful source of multi-MeV ions and neutrons for advanced applications

et al. 2016

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A novel configuration of a deuterium z-pinch has been used to generate a nanosecond pulse of fast ions and neutrons. At a 3 MA current, the peak neutron yield of (3.6 ± 0.5) × 1012 was emitted within 20 ns implying the production rate of 1020 neutrons/s. High neutron yields resulted from the magnetization of MeV deuterons inside plasmas. Whereas deuterons were trapped in the radial direction, a lot of fast ions escaped the z-pinch along the z-axis. A large number of >25 MeV ions were emitted into a 250 mrad cone. The cut-off energy of broad energy spectra of hydrogen ions approached 40 MeV. The total number of >1 MeV and >25 MeV deuterons were 1016 and 1013, respectively. Utilizing these ions offers a real possibility of various applications, including the increase of neutron yields or the production of short-lived isotopes in samples placed in ion paths. On the basis of our experiments with various samples, we concluded that a single shot would have been sufficient to obtain GBq positron activity of 13N isotopes via the 12C(d,n)13N reaction. Furthermore, the first z-pinch generated neutron radiograph produced by ≈20 ns pulses is presented in this paper.

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Generation and anisotropy of neutron emission from a condensed Z-pinch

Cited by 13 publications

References 19 publications

Measurements of the parameters of a condensed deuterated Z-pinch on the angara-5-1 facility

Measurements of the parameters of a condensed deuterated Z-pinch on the angara-5-1 facility

Neutron spectra from beam-target reactions in dense Z-pinches

Deuterium z-pinch as a powerful source of multi-MeV ions and neutrons for advanced applications

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