Neutron production and implosion characteristics of a deuterium gas-puff Z pinch

• DOI: 10.1063/1.2446177
• Publication Date: 2007-02-21T22:57:25Z
• Authors: C. A. Coverdale; C. Deeney; A. L. Velikovich; R. W. Clark; Y. K. Chong; J. Davis; J. Chittenden; C. L. Ruiz; G. W. Cooper; A. J. Nelson; J. Franklin; P. D. LePell; J. P. Apruzese; J. Levine; J. Banister; N. Qi
• Keywords: 0103 physical sciences; 01 natural sciences; 7. Clean energy

Experiments on the Z accelerator with deuterium gas puff implosions have produced up to 3.9×1013(±20%) neutrons at 2.34 MeV (±0.10MeV). Experimentally, the mechanism for generating these neutrons has not been definitively identified through isotropy measurements, but activation diagnostics suggest multiple mechanisms may be responsible. One-, two-, and three-dimensional magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) calculations have indicated that thermonuclear outputs from Z could be expected to be in the (0.3–1.0)×1014 range. X-ray diagnostics of plasma conditions, fielded to look at dopant materials in the deuterium, have shown that the stagnated deuterium plasma achieved electron temperatures of 2.2keV and ion densities of 2×1020cm−3, in agreement with the MHD calculations.