Quantitative x‐ray emission from a DPF device

The x‐ray emission was measured from a Dense Plasma Focus (DPF) device. The high density plasma is generated by an electrical discharge in rarefied‐neon gas between electrodes in a Mather‐type plasma focus configuration. A curved‐crystal x‐ray spectrograph, a pinhole camera, and an active‐filtered photodiode were the diagnostics viewing the axial output of the pinched‐plasma region. The x‐ray pinhole images indicate a pinched volume roughly 8 mm in length with a nearly circular cross section of about 300 μm in diameter. The digitized spectral traces were computer processed to obtain absolute x‐ray line intensities. The neon plasma yielded 10–15 J of K‐shell radiation into 4π with the hydrogenlike and heliumlike alpha lines totaling 55%–65% of the total spectral emission. The x‐ray emission of the DPF device was studied as a function of discharge current and anode diameter.