In this paper, experimental measurements of neutron energy distribution and hard x-ray emission from a 320J deuterium operated plasma focus device are presented. Temporal measurements of neutron and hard x-ray emission are studied using different arrangements of six scintillator-photomultiplier detector systems, located either radially or axially with respect to the focus symmetry axis. The axial-to-radial ratio of both total neutron yield and neutron energies indicates anisotropic emission, which is consistent with a 100 keV kinetic energy of the deuterons in the axial direction. The energy spread among different shots was ~0.5 MeV in the axial direction which is 2.5 times the spread in the radial direction. Furthermore, temporal differences on hard x-rays and neutron production over each direction are found. These differences show correlation with neutron energies. This could be related to the existence of two temporally separated neutron production times corresponding to different moments during the plasma focus discharge.
Neutron measurement techniques for tokamak plasmas