A continuous pulsed neutron source from dpf device

A 2.2 kJ repetitive plasma focus device (DPF-2.2) as a continuous pulsed neutron source is presented. Time integrated and time resolved neutron diagnostic techniques were used to investigate the characteristics of the neutron emission at repetitive-rate as one shot per minute. The average neutron yield per shot of (5.14±3.02)×10⁷ and the maximum yield of 2.0×10⁸ were obtained at the optimum deuterium filling pressure. In comparison with the neutron yield in single mode, the average neutron yield operated continuously for 50 shots without purging the gas is almost the same. The time resolved measurement of the neutron pulse indicated that both the hard X-ray and neutrons are emitted from plasma focus at the same instant and the width of neutron pulse (FWHM) changes slightly from 50 to 53 ns.