Dense Plasma Focus soft x-ray and neutron calibration source

Summary form only given. The Dense Plasma Focus (DPF) is a versatile source of soft x-ray and neutron emission, for calibration purposes. This paper describes results from a 500J/130kA and a 2kJ/300kA DPF, operated at 0.2-2Hz rep-rates. Using the five-phase, Sing Lee1 model of the DPF, optimized head designs were tested with Deuterium, Neon and Argon gas fills. The 20- 40ns FWHM neutron output was measured using plastic scintillators and fast photomultiplier tubes. The soft x-ray outputs at -IkeV and ~3.2keV from Ne and Ar K-shell emissions were measured using standard x-ray diodes and AASC´s diamond radiation detectors, filtered appropriately. The DPF sources may be fired in bursts of -1000-5000 pulses at a time, allowing for very accurate (<5% 1-sigma) cross- calibration of sensors. When the D2, Ne and Ar gas fills are mixed with other gases, significant variations in neutron and/or soft x-ray output are expected. Prior work has shown a 5x enhancement of the neutron output, for example, with 8% by mass of Ar doping the D2 gas fill. The effect of other dopants such as Kr and possibly Xe will be discussed. For the soft x-ray sources, the role of mixtures in altering the output and broadening the spectrum available for calibration will be discussed. Advanced pulsed power modulators that could reduce the foot-print of such DPF calibration sources and make a 300kA source fit into a <lm3 volume and be portable, will also be discussed.