Generation and diagnostic of energetic particles and plasmas in focus devices

Plasmas produced in focus devices constructed at the Central Institute of Physics, Bucharest, have been investigated with the aims of determining the structure and parameters of the plasma sheath in the axial acceleration and radial collapse stages, and the relationship between neutron production and energetic ion generation. Magnetic probes and optical spectroscopy have been used to study the plasma sheath. A direct energy analysis performed on the plasma ions, coupled with hard X-ray and neutron measurements, provided information on the possible mechanism of neutron generation. It is concluded that neutron generation in low-energy plasma focus devices is due to a beam-target interaction mechanism. (author)