Experimental determination of DT yield in high current DD Dense Plasma Focii

Summary form only given. Dense Plasma Focii (DPF), which utilize deuterium gas to produce 2.45 MeV neutrons, may in fact also produce DT fusion neutrons at 14.1 MeV due to the triton production in the DD reaction. If beam-target fusion is the primary producer of fusion neutrons in DPFs, it is possible that ejected tritons from the first pinch will interact with the second pinch, and so forth. The 2 MJ DPF at National Security Technologies´ Losee Road Facility is able to, and has produced, over 1E12 DD neutrons per pulse, allowing an accurate measurement of the DT/DD ratio. The DT/DD ratio was experimentally verified by using the (n, 2n) reaction in a large piece of praseodymium metal, which has a threshold reaction of 8 MeV, and is widely used as a DT yield measurement system¹. The DT/DD ratio was experimentally determined for over 100 shots, and then compared to independent variables such as tube pressure, number of pinches per shot, total current, pinch current and charge voltage.