Abstract. Experimental studies performed with many Plasma-Focus (PF) facilities have shown that simultaneously with the emission of X-ray pulses and intense relativistic electron beams (REBs) there also appears the emission of pulsed ion streams of a relatively high energy (up to several MeV). Such ions are emitted mainly along the z-axis of the PF discharge, although the ion angular distribution is relatively wide. From PF discharges with deuterium filling fast neutrons produced by nuclear fusion reactions are also emitted. The paper concerns studies of the energetic ion beams and their correlation with the pulsed REBs. Time-integrated measurements were performed with an ion pinhole camera equipped with solid-state nuclear track detectors (SSNTDs), and time-resolved studies were carried out with a scintillation detector, enabling the determination of an ion energy spectrum on the basis of the time-of-flight (TOF) technique.
IAEA 2001