Neutron fluence distribution in experiments with 3 MA deuterium gas-puff z-pinch.

Deuterium gas-puff z-pinches are very efficient laboratory sources of neutron pulses. Using a novel hybrid gas-puff load on the GIT-12 generator, a significant increase in the neutron yields up to 5.6 × 10 12 is reached. At the same time, a very broad neutron energy spectrum up to energies on the order of tens of MeV is observed. In these experiments, the neutrons are produced not only by the D(d,n)³He (DD) nuclear reaction but also by reactions of multi-MeV deuterons with the experimental hardware. The angular distribution of the neutron fluence and dependence of the fluence on the distance from the z-pinch are measured using neutron activation diagnostics. By this method, a number of produced non-DD neutrons and anisotropy of DD neutron emission are evaluated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]