Progress in plasma focus research at the Kurchatov Institute

Abstract

This paper presents new results from studies of plasma focus (PF) systems at the Kurchatov Institute (Moscow, Russia). High efficiency of the discharge current transport into the axial region of the system was demonstrated at the PF-3 PF facility, where the experiments on implosion of wire arrays by the current carrying plasma sheath of the PF discharge were performed. The efficiency of the sheath current switching over to the wire array and penetration of the plasma with the magnetic field inside the wire array was studied. The emission parameters of the new small-sized PF facility with Wmax = 600 J were studied. When operating at frequencies of up to 10 Hz, neutron fluxes of about ∼ 108 neutrons s−1 were obtained. The first results in the new field of research associated with the use of the PF facilities in the laboratory simulations of astrophysical processes, such as astrophysics jets, are presented.