Kinetic simulations of a deuterium-tritium Z pinch with >1016 neutron yielda)

Fully kinetic, collisional, and electromagnetic simulations of the time evolution of an imploding and burning Z pinch plasma have been performed. Using the implicit particle-in-cell (PIC) code, multidimensional (1D and 3D) simulations of deuterium and deuterium-tritium Z pinches provide insight into the mechanisms of neutron production. The PIC code allows non-Maxwellian particle distributions, simulates finite mean-free-path effects, performs self-consistent calculations of anomalous resistivity, and permits charge separation. At low pinch current, neutron production is dominated by high energy ions driven by instabilities. The instabilities produce a power-law ion-energy distribution function in the distribution tail. At higher currents with deuterium-tritium fuel, the vast majority of the neutrons is thermonuclear in origin and neutron yield follows an I4 neutron yield scaling with current. High-current, multidimension simulations (up to 40 MA with > 1016 neutron yield) suggest that the fraction of the...

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