5th INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON THE FRONTIERS OF PLASMA PHYSICS AND TECHNOLOGY

18-22 April 2011, Singapore, Republic of Singapore


20 KJ PLASMA FOCUS NEUTRON SOURCE: DEVELOPMENT AND RECENT RESULTS

Rishi Verma1,2, T. L. Tan1, P. Lee1, A. Talebitaher1, H. B. M Shariff1, S. V. Springham1 and R. S. Rawat1

1 Natural Sciences and Science Education, National Institute of Education, Nanyang Technological University, 1Nanyang Walk, Singapore - 637616
2Institute for Plasma Research, Bhat, Gandhinagar, Gujarat, India - 382428
3Bhabha Atomic Research Center, Autonagar, Vishakapatnam, Andhra Pradesh, India - 530012


Abstract.  In this poster conceptualization, construction and operation of recently developed 20 kJ Plasma Focus facility, named as NX-3, at Plasma Radiation Source Lab, NIE, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore will be presented. The 100 µF capacitor bank, comprising of eight capacitors (2.5kJ each) in parallel with each of them connected to focus chamber load through pseudo-sparkgap switches, delivers peak current in the range of 200kA to 600kA (depending upon load and operating parameters) in a quarter time period of ~3.5µs. The electrical characteristics of the device in short circuit mode and high pressure fill mode have been estimated and will be reported in detail. The preliminary experimental results of NX-3 plasma focus device as neutron source using deuterium filling at lower storage energy of 10 kJ will be presented. The average neutron yield of the order of 109 neutrons/pulse has been observed for the deuterium filling gas pressure range of 6 to 8mbar. The time integrated and time resolved techniques are employed simultaneously to study the neutron and hard x-ray emission characteristics of NX-3.