Lithium plasma generation for PBFA‐II ion diodes

The selection of lithium as the ion for PBFA II has made the development of a suitable lithium ion source one of the highest priority areas in the light‐ion fusion program. Several schemes for producing lithium ions in a suitable diode configuration are being actively pursued. One attractive option is to use the LIBORS laser ionization technique on a thin layer of lithium vapor near the anode. A space‐ and time‐dependent model of this process has been developed to guide system design studies, and experiments are being performed to validate model predictions.