Estimation of Amount of Scattered Neutrons at Devices PFZ and GIT-12 by MCNP Simulations

Our work is dedicated to pinch effect occurring during current discharge in deuterium plasma, and our results are connected with two devices – plasma focus PFZ, situated in the Faculty of Electrical Engineering, CTU, Prague, and Z-pinch GIT-12, which is situated in the Institute of High Current Electronics, Tomsk. During fusion reactions that proceed in plasma during discharge, neutrons are produced. We use neutrons as instrument for plasma diagnostics. Despite of the advantage that neutrons do not interact with electric and magnetic fields inside device, they are inevitably scattered by materials that are placed between their source and probe, and information about plasma from which they come from is distorted. For estimation of rate of neutron scattering we use MCNP code

The Construction of the Fast Resistive Bolometer for a SXR Measurement on the GIT-12 Facility

A lot of kinds of instruments are used for the SXR measurement at pulsed power facilities, but most of them are difficult to calibrate absolutely. For the determination of the energy of SXR radiated by the discharge on Z-pinches, it is possible to use the bolometer which can be calibrated analytically. The bolometer can be constructed with the sufficient sensitivity and, at the same time, with the time resolution in the order of nanoseconds. This bolometer was designed and constructed for the measurement on the 5MA facility GIT-12 at the Institute of High Current Electronics (IHCE) of the Siberian Branch Russian Academy of Sciences in Tomsk. The experiments on GIT-12 with the neon and deuterium gas-puff load were diagnosed by the copper bolometer with the time resolution of 4 ns and the sensitivity of 12 V cm2 J-1

Currents from relativistic laser-plasma interaction as novel metrology for system stability of high-repetition-rate laser secondary sources

This work shows for the first time experimentally the close relation between return currents from relativistic laser-driven target polarization and the quality of the relativistic laser plasma interaction for laser driven secondary sources. Such currents rise in all interaction schemes where targets of any kind are charged by escaping laser-accelerated relativistic electrons. Therefore, return currents can be used as a metrological online tool in the optimization of many laser-driven secondary sources and for diagnosing their stability. We demonstrate the destruction free measurement of return currents at the example of a tape target system irradiated by the 1 PW VEGA3 laser at CLPU at its maximum capabilities for laser-driven ion acceleration. Such endeavour paves the ground for feedback systems that operate at the high-repetition-rate of PW-class laser systems

Laser produced electromagnetic pulses : Generation, detection and mitigation

This paper provides an up-to-date review of the problems related to the generation, detection and mitigation of strong electromagnetic pulses created in the interaction of high-power, high-energy laser pulses with different types of solid targets. It includes new experimental data obtained independently at several international laboratories. The mechanisms of electromagnetic field generation are analyzed and considered as a function of the intensity and the spectral range of emissions they produce. The major emphasis is put on the gHz frequency domain, which is the most damaging for electronics and may have important applications. The physics of electromagnetic emissions in other spectral domains, in particular THz and MHz, is also discussed. The theoretical models and numerical simulations are compared with the results of experimental measurements, with special attention to the methodology of measurements and complementary diagnostics. Understanding the underlying physical processes is the basis for developing techniques to mitigate the electromagnetic threat and to harness electromagnetic emissions, which may have promising applications

Ion emission from plasmas produced by femtosecond pulses of short-wavelength free-electron laser radiation focused on massive targets: an overview and comparison with long-wavelength laser ablation

We report on ion emission from plasma produced on thick targets irradiated with nanosecond and femtosecond pulses delivered by mid-ultraviolet and soft x-ray lasers, respectively. To distinguish between different ion acceleration mechanisms, the maximum kinetic energy of ions produced under different interaction conditions is plotted versus laser fluence. The transformation of the time-of-flight detector signal into ion charge density distance-of-flight spectra makes it possible to determine the mean kinetic energy of the fastest ion groups based on the influence of the acoustic velocity of ion expansion. This allows obtaining additional characteristics of the ion production. The final energy of the group of fast ions determined using the ion sound velocity model is an order of magnitude larger in the fs-XFEL interaction than in the ns-UV one. On the contrary, the ablation yield of ions in our experiment is seven orders of magnitude greater when applying ns-UV laser pulses, not only due to higher energies of UV laser pulses, but also due to a significant difference in interaction and ion formation mechanisms

MCNP calculations of neutron emission anisotropy caused by the GIT-12 hardware

The MCNP6 and MCNPX calculations for the GIT-12 device in Tomsk were performed to determine the influence of the gas-puff hardware on the neutron emission anisotropy and the neutron scattering rate. A monoenergetic 2.45 MeV neutron source and F1 and F6 tallies were declared in the simulation input. A comparison between MCNP results and the measured data was made. Differences between MCNPX and MCNP6 output data were investigated. In the experiment, two nTOF scintillation detectors with the Bicron BC-408 scintillator were used to measure the neutron waveform. Four bubble BD-PND detectors were used to estimate the amount of neutrons in different places around the neutron source

Novel concept suppressing plasma heat pulses in a tokamak by fast divertor sweeping

One of the remaining challenges in magnetic thermonuclear fusion is survival of the heat shield protecting the tokamak reactor vessel against excessive plasma heat fluxes. Unmitigated high confinement edge localized mode (ELM) is a regular heat pulse damaging the heat shield. We suggest a novel concept of magnetic sweeping of the plasma contact strike point fast and far enough in order to spread this heat pulse. We demonstrate feasibility of a dedicated copper coil in a resonant circuit, including the induced currents and power electronics. We predict the DEMO ELM properties, simulate heat conduction, 3D particles motion and magnetic fields of the plasma and coil in COMSOL Multiphysics and Matlab. The dominant system parameter is voltage, feasible 18 kV yields 1 kHz sweeping frequency, suppressing the ELM-induced surface temperature rise by a factor of 3. Multiplied by other known mitigation concepts, ELMs might be mitigated enough to ensure safe operation of DEMO.ISSN:2045-232

Experiments and simulations on the possibility of radiative contraction/collapse in the PF-1000 plasma focus

Experimental studies of discharges in the plasma focus facility with neon filling and respective numerical simulations employing the radiative Lee code are reported. The pinch currents exceed the Pease-Braginskii current, which indicates that radiative losses are larger than heating and that contraction of the formed plasma should occur. Both of these effects were indeed observed. Parallel numerical simulations were crucial for the identification of such an effect

Evolution of the small ball-like structures in the plasma focus discharge

The experiments were carried out in the PF-1000 plasma-focus device at the maximum current reaching about 2 MA, at the deuterium or neon filling and with deuterium injected from a gas-puff nozzle placed on the axis of the anode face. Ball-like structures of diameters of 1-12 mm were identified in interferometric and XUV pinhole camera frames. We made the statistical description of their parameters. A lifetime of the ball-like structures was in the range from 30 to 210 ns, and in some cases even more. These structures appeared mostly at the surface of the imploding plasma shell and they did not change their position in relation to the anode end. During the evolution of these structures, interferometric fringes were observed near the surfaces of the structures only, and their internal parts were initially chaotic (without noticeable) fringes. Subsequently the number of interferometric fringes increased (the internal ‘chaotic’ area was filled with fringes too) and later on it decreased. The radii of the ball-like structures were mostly increasing during their existence. The maximum electron density reached the value of 1024 to 1025 m-3. The ball-like structures decayed by absorption inside the expanded pinch column and/or gradually expired in rare plasma outside of the dense plasma column