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

Abstract

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.