Beam plasma neutron sources based on beam-driven mirror

The design and performance of a relatively low-cost, plasma-based, 14-MeV D-T neutron source for accelerated end-of-life testing of fusion reactor materials are described in this article. An intense flux (up to 5×10¹⁸ n/m²·s) of 14-MeV neutrons is produced in a fully-ionized high-density tritium target (n _e 3×10²¹ m^–3) by injecting a current of 150-keV deuterium atoms. The tritium plasma target and the energetic D⁺ density produced by D⁰ injection are confined in a column of diameter 0.16 m by a linear magnet set, which provides magnetic fields up to 12 T. Energy deposited by transverse injection of neutral beams at the midpoint of the column is conducted along the plasma column to the end regions. Longitudinal plasma pressure in the column is balanced by neutral gas pressure in the end tanks. The target plasma temperature is about 200 eV at the beam-injection position and falls to 5 eV or less in the end region. Ions reach the walls with energies below the sputtering threshold, and the wall temperature is maintained below 740 K by conventional cooling technology.