LAUSR

The effect of gas pressure on the neutron yield and ion properties is investigated in this article by using the developed model. The gas pressure range is from 1 to 40 Torr with 1-Torr increment in the spherical plasma focus device using an equal amount deuterium–tritium gas mixture. The beam-target neutron yield, beam-ion speed, beam-ion energy, plasma column ion density, beam-ion density, and plasma temperature are calculated with respect to gas pressure variation. Increasing the gas pressure leads to an increase in the neutron yield until 26-Torr gas pressure. But, beyond 26 Torr, increasing gas pressure results in decreasing neutron yield. This result indicates that the optimum gas pressure for neutron yield in the spherical plasma focus device is 26 Torr with $1.42 \times 10^{13}$ neutrons for used operating parameters, which are 25-kV charging voltage, 36-nH external inductance, and 432- $\mu \text{F}$ capacitor bank. This device has an 8-cm inner electrode radius and a 14.5-cm outer electrode radius. While beam-ion and plasma-ion densities increase with the gas pressure, the beam-ion speed and energy decrease. It is also found that the plasma loses less energy for higher gas pressures through radiation emissions compared to lower gas pressures. Since there is not enough published experimental data about spherical plasma focus devices, this article is conducted with the simulation of the spherical plasma focus device.