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

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 magneti...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Physics of plasmas 2016-03, Vol.23 (3)
Main Authors: Klir, D., Shishlov, A. V., Kokshenev, V. A., Kubes, P., Labetsky, A. Yu, Rezac, K., Cherdizov, R. K., Cikhardt, J., Cikhardtova, B., Dudkin, G. N., Fursov, F. I., Garapatsky, A. A., Kovalchuk, B. M., Krasa, J., Kravarik, J., Kurmaev, N. E., Orcikova, H., Padalko, V. N., Ratakhin, N. A., Sila, O., Turek, K., Varlachev, V. A., Velyhan, A., Wagner, R.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY
BASES
CARBON 12
DEUTERIUM
DEUTERONS
EMISSION
ENERGY SPECTRA
HYDROGEN
HYDROGEN IONS
Hydrogen-based energy
Isotopes
MAGNETIZATION
MEV RANGE
Nanosecond pulses
NEUTRONS
NITROGEN 13
NITROGEN 13 REACTIONS
Nitrogen isotopes
PEAKS
PLASMA
Plasma physics
Plasmas (physics)
POSITRONS
PULSES
Radiographs
TRAPPING
YIELDS
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Summary: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.
ISSN:1070-664X
1089-7674
DOI:10.1063/1.4942944