Research Results of Plasma Focus Numerical Experiments

The Lee model couples the electrical circuit with plasma focus dynamics, thermodynamics, and radiation. A phenomenological beam-target neutron generating mechanism is included in the code to provide information on the neutron yield. The Lee model is extensively used to design and simulate experiments. This paper provides an overview of recent published results from numerical experiments carried out using the Lee model. The results are: (1) a previously unsuspected “pinch current limitation” effect; (2) the existence of an optimum Lo below which the pinch current and neutron yield of that plasma focus would not increase, but instead decreases; (3) a realistic neutron yield scaling with pinch current; and (4) an innovative tool to obtain the pinch current. A dominant thread running through the research papers is that the pinch current has to be distinguished from the discharge peak current in the analysis and scaling of plasma focus experiments. 1.