[en] Plasma focus devices are powerful sources of neutrons and ion beams. The measured scaling of the neutron yield indicates a linear increase of the efficiency with increasing input energy. High density and high temperature plasmas emitting strong radiation from microwave to hard X-ray region are produced even in small (1 kJ) devices. The general features of plasma focus experiments performed in more than 20 laboratories are reviewed. (orig.)

[en] A plasma focus device aimed at working in environmental conditions not tailored for nuclear equipment has been developed by ENEA. It can operate in deuterium at 1 Hz shot rate, with an average neutron production of 3 x 10⁸ neutrons/shot at 6 kJ of capacitor energy. It is easy to transport and conceived for those industrial purposes where a rather intense neutron generator is required but the use of tritium is forbidden. The machine is designed to be reliable and uniform in emission and to be operated in the field by personnel who are not specialists, to meet the requirements of the possible transformation into a commercial product

No abstract available

[en] A fast valve injects gas transiently near the insulator in order to optimize pressures separately for breakdown and beam generation. On a different machine without gas injection the interaction of the ion beam with targets of variable thicknesses can be used to diagnose the beam

No abstract available

[en] The uses of plasma focus device as one source for ion irradiation. Several samples have been tested for ion irradiation. As the various types of materials and sample forms, a sample holder system have been designed to suit the need. (author)

No abstract available

[en] This paper describes the operating principle and the development of a capacitor bank designed to energize a FOCUS-type plasma experiment. The bank is comprised of 64 capacitors, the discharge of which is initiated by 64 spark gaps triggered by 8 slave gaps and one master gap. The spark gaps feature three electrodes and operate in pressurized air. Main features of the capacitor bank are low inductance (12.5 nH) and effective synchronization of spark gap operation (jitter is approximately 10 ns). A number of technological solutions have been tested, resulting in the implementation of a reliable system

[en] The results obtained during the first stage of an experimental program on the study of plasma focus neutron emission are presented. The measurements were performed on two plasma focus devices having maximum stored energies of 4 kJoule and 20 kJoule, respectively. By carrying out correlated measurements on the neutron emission (using scintillator-photomultiplier and Geiger-Muller counters), on the hard X-ray emission and on the discharge current, some conclusions regarding the possible mechanism responsible for the neutron emission in these devices have been drawn. Neutron energies in the range 1.5-3 MeV have been determined; typical neutron yields are 10⁶ neutrons/pulse (at 3.2 kJoule) and 10⁸ neutrons/pulse (at 10 kJ) for the two devices operating in deuterium. (author)

[en] Experimental results on the energetic characteristics of the plasma focus ionic component, produced in the IPF 2/20 device are presented. For energies greater than approximate 50 keV the energy distributions of the ions emitted forward are well fitted by the exponential function exp(-E/B), where the medium value of B is 48 keV. Most of the distributions have a maximum in the energy range 25-47 keV. (authors)