Simultaneous Measurements of Neutrons and Energetic Protons from D-D and D-3He Fusion Reactions in an Inertial Electrostatic Confinement Device

An inertial electrostatic confinement fusion (IECF) device can produce copious amount of neutrons and protons from D-D and D-³ He fusion reactions using D₂ and ³He fuels. In order to measure the reaction rate of D-³He, a proton counting system is constructed using a silicon diode detector. When used with a metallic foil and an electron deflection magnet, the present proton counting system provides a good signal/noise ratio for 14.7 MeV protons even in the presence of high energy electron beams, hard X-rays. Meanwhile unaccountable signals at -8 MeV, which is different from the signals of D-D or D-³He protons have been observed, whose origin has eventually revealed by spatial distribution determination by use of movable collimator masks installed in front of the detector. The production rates of the 14.7 MeV protons from D-³He and neutrons from D-D fusion reactions have been measured as functions of D ₂-³He fuel composition and the discharge bias voltage, which agree well with the theoretical predictions