Runaway electrons as a source of impurity and reduced fusion yield in the dense plasma focus

[jamesr]

It’s been a while since I updated myself on what you’ve been up to. So having just read your new paper “Runaway electrons as a source of impurity and reduced fusion yield
in the dense plasma focus” http://scitation.aip.org/content/aip/journal/pop/21/10/10.1063/1.4898733

It looks like some solid progress. While not the kind of headline grabbing stuff of new record yields, understanding the source of impurities is key. Hopefully enough to keep financiers interested

One question though… The paper mentions the use of tungsten, but knowing more about the runaway electrons – how do you expect beryllium electrodes to behave. Also, if using an alpha emitter to help the pre-ionization will this cause a neutron issue with Be(alpha,n) reactions (over and above those caused by the fusion generated alphas)?

James

[Francisl]

The article gave a very good explanation of what is happening based on evidence and theory. Can the emission spectrum from the high voltage discharge be used to monitor the voltage levels as the sheath moves forward?

[Francisl]

I have a suggestion for monitoring the metallic impurities in the pinch.
After a pinch occurs, a positively charged ion beam exits. It contains alpha particles and should also contain metallic impurities. A collection plate can be placed in the beam’s path and the metals should be deposited there. The amount of deposition is related to the vaporization from the electrodes.
The collection plates can be sent to laboratories such as: Aston Metallurgical Services Company, Inc or Silicon Cert Laboratories. They can detect the type and amount of the impurities at very small amounts. This analysis should help to speed up the performance increases in the dpf device.

[Author]

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