Experiments on plasma focus and DT microballoon interactions

Summary form only given, as follows. Experiments were carried out in which a small plasma focus was used to drive DT microballoons. The DT microballoons were 1 mm in diameter and contained 50 atm of DT gas in a 50% mixture. The plasma focus driver achieves a maximum current of ~1 MA from its 20-kV, 72-kJ capacitor bank. The plasma sheath was formed from deuterium, hydrogen, and helium. The microballoons were inserted into the focus region through an air lock in the device´s anode, to avoid any electrical gradient between the positive electrode and the target. Neutron yields of 10⁹ to 10¹⁰ 14.1-MeV neutrons have been measured from the combination of a deuterium plasma sheath and a DT target. However, it was not possible to detect a significant DT-neutron yield with hydrogen and helium plasma sheaths. Therefore, one is led to conclude that the 14.1 -MeV neutron yields that have been observed are due to a beam-target interaction between accelerated deuterons from the plasma sheath and the tritium gas in the microballoon