Light ion production and focusing with pinch-reflex diodes

Light-ion ICF requires the development of diodes which can efficiently produce high-brightness ion beams, and which can aim the ions in a narrow cone towards a cm-diameter fusion target or transport-channel. Since candidate ion species span protons to carbon ions, diode behavior must be studied in a range of acceleration voltages (2–8 MV) and impendences (1–10 Ω). NRL has developed a broad experimental data base using pinch-reflex diodes (PRO) on a variety of generators to address the issues of ion production efficiency and beam brightness.