Neutron Generation in a Deuterated- Polyethylene-Fiber Hybrid X-Pinch on the MAIZE LTD

In this article, we present experimental tests of a hybrid X-pinch loaded with a deuterated polyethylene fiber (CD<sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">2</sub>). These experiments were performed on the 1-MA, 100-ns MAIZE linear transformer driver (LTD). The purpose of these experiments was to investigate the properties of CD<sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">2</sub> hybrid X-pinches as fast, spatially localized neutron sources. To our knowledge, these are the first experimental tests of a CD<sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">2</sub> X-pinch in a hybrid configuration reported in the literature as well as the first tests of a CD<sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">2</sub> X-pinch in general on a low-impedance LTD such as MAIZE (<inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$0.16~\Omega $</tex-math> </inline-formula>). The resulting neutron production was found to be highly correlated with X-ray emission peaks, to <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\lesssim 10$</tex-math> </inline-formula> ns, with a production duration of typically 15–20 ns. In the limited parameter sweep performed, the average yields were on the order of <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$10^{7}$</tex-math> </inline-formula> neutrons, while the maximum yield obtained was as high as <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">${1.4} \times 10^{8}$</tex-math> </inline-formula> neutrons. Such yields are comparable to those obtained from a gas-puff z-pinch on MAIZE; however, the CD<sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">2</sub> hybrid X-pinch provides a more localized source and requires less deuterated material.