R. K. Cherdizov

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 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 ...

Neutron Spectrum Measured by Activation Diagnostics in Deuterium Gas-Puff Experiments on the 3 MA GIT-12 Z-Pinch

A set of neutron diagnostics including scintillation time-of-flight detectors, bubble detectors, and several kinds of threshold nuclear activation samples is used to obtain information about the yield and spectrum of the neutrons produced by a deuterium gas-puff z-pinch. The experiments are performed at a current of about 3 MA on the GIT-12 generator at the Institute of High Current Electronics of the Siberian Branch of Russian Academy of Sciences in Tomsk. The average neutron yield in the experiments in 2016 was

Efficient neutron production from a novel configuration of deuterium gas-puff z-pinch.

2.3 \times 10^{12}

Efficient generation of fast neutrons by magnetized deuterons in an optimized deuterium gas-puff z-pinch

neutrons per single shot. Using the data obtained with the help of neutron activation diagnostics, the time-of-flight detectors have been absolutely calibrated and the broad energy spectrum of the produced neutrons was evaluated. By the calculations presented in this paper, due to the multi-MeV energies of deuterons generated in the pinch, up to 15% of the total neutron yield could be produced by nuclear reactions of deuterons with a stainless steel vacuum chamber and aluminum components of the diagnostic apparatus inside the chamber.