Research on pinch plasma focus devices of hundred of kilojoules to tens of joules

Abstract

At present the Plasma Physics and Plasma Technology Group of the Comisión Chilena de Energía Nuclear (CCHEN) has the experimental facilities in order to study fast dense transient discharges in a wide range of energy and current, namely: I) energy from hundred of kilojoules to tens of joules, II) current from mega-amperes to tens of kiloamperes. Also several diagnostics have been implemented. An overview of the work being carried out on dense pinch plasma focus discharges at the Comisión Chilena de Energía Nuclear is presented. The plasma energy density and scaling laws for the neutron yield are discussed. Possible applications of the radiation emitted are also discussed.