Optimal regimes of mather-type plasma focus devices

This chapter shows that the maximum neutron yield N in many PF experiments is obtained at a critical value of the pressure p=pc for which the electromechanical work Ep performed by the magnetic forces on the CS, divided by the swept mass, reaches a value of the order of the specific ionization energy of the gas. By means of a two dimensional snowplow model, Ep, I and the cutoff condition can be expressed in terms of the design parameters of the devices. Discusses the high pressure limit of the efficient operation of Mather-type plasma focus devices; some comments on the interpretation of the high pressure cutoff; the high pressure cutoff and the neutron scaling laws; and the dependence of the total current, the electromechanical work and the high pressure cutoff on the parameters of the experiments. Finds that the systematics of neutron production of a large number of experiments with Mathertype Plasma Focus machines in the energy range 1-650kJ (Capacitor bank energy) indicates that the scaling laws must be corrected by introducing a cutoff factor