Time-resolved characteristics of deuteron-beam generated by plasma focus discharge
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
1-1-2018
Abstract
The plasma focus device discussed herein is a Z-pinch pulsed-plasma arrangement. In this, the plasma is heated and compressed into a cylindrical column, producing a typical density of > 10 25 particles/m 3 and a temperature of (1–3) × 10 7 o C. The plasma focus has been widely investigated as a radiation source, including as ion-beams, electron-beams and as a source of x-ray and neutron production, providing considerable scope for use in a variety of technological situations. Thus said, the nature of the radiation emission depends on the dynamics of the plasma pinch. In this study of the characteristics of deuteron-beam emission, in terms of energy, fluence and angular distribution were analyzed. The 2.7 kJ plasma focus discharge has been made to operate at a pressure of less than 1 mbar rather than at its more conventional operating pressure of a few mbar. Faraday cup were used to determine deuteron-beam energy and deuteron-beam fluence per shot while CR-39 solid-state nuclear track detectors were employed in studying the angular distribution of deuteron emission. Beam energy and deuteron-beam fluence per shot have been found to be pressure dependent. The largest value of average deuteron energy measured for present conditions was found to be (52 ± 7) keV, while the deuteron-beam fluence per shot was of the order of 10 15 ions/m 2 when operated at a pressure of 0.2 mbar. The deuteron-beam emission is in the forward direction and is observed to be highly anisotropic.
Keywords
Deuterium, Equipment Design, Microscopy, Plasma Gases, Time and Motion Studies
Divisions
PHYSICS
Funders
Ministry of Higher Education Fundamental Research Grant Scheme (FP013-2014A),University of Malaya PPP research grant (PG010-2015B)
Publication Title
PLoS ONE
Volume
13
Issue
1
Publisher
Public Library of Science