Recent Achievements of Plasma Studies within PF-1000U Facility

M.J. Sadowskia, b, M. Paduchb, P. Kubesc, V.I. Krauzd, V.A. Gribkove aNational Centre for Nuclear Research (NCBJ), 05-400 Otwock-Swierk, Poland bInstitute of Plasma Physics and Laser Microfusion (IPPLM), 01-497 Warsaw, Poland cCzech Technical University (CVUT), 166-27 Prague, Czech Republic dNational Research Centre, Kurchatov Institute, 123182 Moscow, Russia eInstitute of Metallurgy and Materials Science, 119334 Moscow, Russia

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This paper presents the most important results of recent plasma studies performed within the PF-1000U facility at the IPPLM in Warsaw, Poland. It was shown that a conical-tip of the anode facilitates the pinch formation and induces an increase in the total neutron yield, while the use of an anti-anode shortens the pinch column but does not improve the fusion-neutron emission. Experiments confirmed that the initial gas conditions have a strong influence on plasma parameters and, at some conditions, the local electron temperatures can reach high values ranging between 5 and 8 keV. It was shown that PF-1000U discharges with the H2-filling generate intense proton beams which can be used for research on (p-11B) fusion reactions. It was also demonstrated that at the appropriate gas puffing the PF-1000U facility generates long plasma jets which can be used for simulations of astrophysical phenomena. Research on interactions of intense plasma streams with different solid targets showed that the facility can be useful for material engineering, e.g. for studies of plasma facing components of a future thermonuclear reactor DEMO. Measurements of fast deuteron beams provided information about their angular distribution and energy spectra. The evolution of a pinch column during the emission of charged particle beams was also observed and analyzed.

DOI:10.12693/APhysPolA.138.613 topics: plasma-focus, PF-1000U facility, anti-anode, pinch formation, total neutron yield, plasma jets