COMPACT REPETITIVEPLASMAFOCUSASAPOWERFUL SOURCE FORHARD-X-RAYAND NEUTRONSCANNING*

heavydevices. On thecontrary, application-oriented Inthis communication atabletop version ofmedium devices should besmall andconveniently portable. energy Plasma Focusispresented. Itwasdesigned forx- Inthis article acompact portable repetitive PFdesign is rayandneutron basedapplications, hasa5.6gFbank presented, called STAR,whichwasconstructed andfully formedby 8 capacitors, operates at30kV,delivers characterized tooperate alternatively asneutron orx-ray 250kAinaquarter-period of1.3gts, andproduces 3107 pulsed generator. Section IIdescribes themostimportant neutrons perpulse atarepetition rate of1Hz.Thehardx- parameters andtheconceptual design ofthedevice. The rayoutput ofthis device isusedforintrospective imagingneutron andx-ray productions areanalyzed insections III ofmetallic pieces, whereas theneutron yield isusedfor andIV.Thefinal remarks arepresented insection V. substance interrogation. A simplified modelforthedesign engineering ofthis device isdiscussed, providing boththe expected neutron yield andthex-ray characteristic II. DESIGN CHARACTERISTICS OF energy. The hardx-rayoutputcharacteristics are STAR evaluated fromtheacceleration voltage induced inthe pinch, whichisaround 100kV.Experiments conducted to TheSTARdesign consists ofaradial array of8capacivalidate themodelarepresented, showing a good tors connected inparallel. Highconductivity Oxygen-free agreement betweenthetheoretical results andthe Copperelectrodes arelocated co-axially inside thePF experimental data. chamber. Thegeometric layout ofthecomponents allows scaling upthebankenergy bytheeasyaddition ofmore capacitors. Thedischarge chamber isastainless-steel 1