AUTOMATED NUMERICAL EXPERIMENTS TO OPTIMIZE TAPERED ANODE CONFIGURATION FOR SOFT X-RAY YIELD IN A LOW-ENERGY PLASMA FOCUS

Using the RADPF5.15 Lee model code, numerical experiments were conducted to study the effects of anode tapering configuration on the soft X-ray (SXR) yield (YSXR) of the 2.2 kJ EAEA-PF1 plasma focus device. Taper dimension parameters were investigated, including the taper start and end radius, variations in the initial pressure of argon gas (P0), and the charging voltage (V0). A comparison of SXR production in the plasma focus device with and without anode tapering revealed that the YSXR obtained using optimized tapered anode dimensions (550.5 mJ) was nearly 100 times greater than that without tapering (5.24 mJ). Additionally, the effects of the taper start and end radius on pinch duration, ion density, pressure, and YSXR were examined. The product of the plasma focus volume, pinch duration, and the square of the plasma density was identified as the dominant factor responsible for the enhancement in YSXR with the tapered anode compared to the untapered configuration. These results indicate that determining the optimal anode tapering dimensions is key to improving YSXR efficiency in plasma focus devices.