Particle beams generated by a 6–12.5 kJ dense plasma focus

Particle beam diagnostic tools involving an ion beam Faraday cup, an electron beam Faraday cup, an electron magnetic spectrometer and solid-state nuclear track detectors have been used to measure the parameters of the particle beams generated by a Mather-type dense plasma focus. At a capacitor bank energy of 12.5 kJ, the energy spectra of the electron and ion beams are found to obey the same power laws: dN/dE ∝ E−x where x ≅ 3.5 ± 0.5. Primary electron beam current and energy spectra were measured as a function of main bank current at pinch time, IMB. The primary electron beam current was found to scale as , reaching a magnitude of 17 kA for a device energy of 12.5 kJ. The exponent x of the electron energy spectra was found to scale as . These results are incorporated into an axial beam target model for neutron production, and it is found that this model could account for the magnitude and scaling of the observed neutron yield with IMB.