Fast Opening Switch Application to Inductive Energy Storage and Theoretical Study of This Technology for 14-MeV Neutron Burst Production

Vacuum inductive energy storage by plasma erosion opening switches (PEOS's) offers the possibility of enhancing pulsed power generator efficiency for bremsstrahlung production. Different laboratories, mainly the Naval Research Laboratory (NRL), had largely developed this technology some years ago. More recently, we have done experiments and numerical simulation for a 1-TW pulsed generator. We give a comparison between simulation and experiments, and we have extended this simulation to a larger number of plasma guns. Furthermore, inductive energy techniques have been investigated theoretically to heat a dense Z-pinch plasma (DZP) and to obtain a 14-MeV neutron burst. Results, using a simple heating model to treat the plasma, indicate the feasibility of these experiments if fast opening reduces instabilities.