X-ray emission from tin (Sn) using the AECS PF-2 plasma focus device

Abstract

The low energy (2.8 kJ, 25 μF, 15 kV, 120 kA) AECS PF-2 Mather-type plasma focus device operated with nitrogen filling gas is used to study of the high energetic electrons beams effect on the pure tin material inserted on the copper anode tip. The operational gas pressure ranges from 0.2 mbar to 1.2 mbar. For each plasma focus discharge, the current and voltage waveforms are recorded using Rogowski coil and Ohm voltage divider, respectively. Two five channel BPX65 PIN photodiodes X-ray spectrometers (DXS) with appropriate filters are managed to estimate the X-ray yield emitted from the tin (Sn) insert (tin L-series X-ray 3.04–4.474 keV window) at the axial and radial directions. The signals of current, voltage and the temporal evolution of X-rays generated in the AECS PF-2 plasma focus device are simultaneously recorded and then analyzed for different experimental conditions. As the X-ray emission from plasma focus has a shot-to-shot variation, so for each value of gas pressure 3–10 successful shots are performed. The obtained results show that the X-ray yield decreases with increasing pressure from 0.2 to 1.2 mbar. The peak X-ray yield is found to be 0.4 J at the pressure of 0.2 mbar with efficiency ∼0.014% and the lowest values are at the highest pressure of 1.2 mbar. It can be concluded that the X-ray emission from AECS PF-2 plasma focus device depends on the pinch plasma parameters, the generated electron beam properties and the tin insert.