Methods and devices for characterization of neutron field in controlled nuclear fusion installations

The Ph.D. thesis is dealing with development of advanced methods and devices for characterization of neutron emission in controlled nuclear fusion systems. This work presents the author's contribution to neutron diagnosis in fusion systems and especially in investigation and understanding of fusion mechanisms in dense Z-pinch installations in their most preferment variant plasma focus, aiming to optimization of neutron production and applications. The work is structured in 6 chapters and 4 appendices. The first chapter presents the numerical and analytical models for the main characteristics of neutron emission in fusion systems. To extract quantitative information on the distribution function of reacting deuterons from neutron measurements analytical expressions for flux anisotropy and energy spectrum of the fusion neutrons emitted in Z-pinch installations were derived. The second chapter introduces the main calibration method of total neutron yield in pulsed fusion system. The conclusions of this study were used for selecting the optimal method of experimental determination of neutron yield in plasma focus installations operating in the laboratory of plasma physics and nuclear fusion of the Institute for Physics and Technology of Radiation Devices, Bucharest and in the Focalized Plasma Group in the Institute of Experimental Physics of the Heinrich-Heine University, Dusseldorf. The third chapter describes the theoretical principles in the spectroscopy of fusion neutrons. The fourth chapter is entirely dedicated to the characterization of neutron emission in the focalized plasma installation SPEED-2 of the University of Dusseldorf. In the fifth chapter there are introduced and applied original methods for determination of energy and angular characteristics of the distribution function of reactant deuterons in focalized plasma. Finally, in the sixth chapter it is developed an original concept of collimation and detection of fast neutrons with spatial resolution in the millimeters range. The main original results are summarized in the concluding part of the thesis. 92 Figs., 16 Tabs., 170 Refs