Dense plasma discharges for solid-target heating

Abstract

Dense plasma channels formed by exploding‐wire discharges have been used to form very‐high‐current‐density electron beams. The interaction of the beam with the plasma lowers the mean electron energy relative to that to be gained in the accelerating potential of 10⁶ V applied across the plasma. The current density of electrons incident on the anode and their energy distribution have been determined. Approximately 10% of the current at the anode contains electrons with energy greater than 25 keV. The current density associated with these electrons exceeds 10⁷ A/cm². The power delivered to the anode approaches 10¹² W/cm², which leads to strong anode heating. X‐ray spectroscopy of the radiation emitted from the anode and of neutron production in deuterated anodes was used to deduce a target temperature of 0.1–1.0 keV.