Velocity Spectrum of Protons and Tritons from thed−dReaction in Scylla

Abstract

A diagnostic experiment has been carried out on the $d-d$ reactions produced by fast magnetic compression of a deuterium plasma. A determination of the velocity spectra of protons and of tritons from the $d-d$ reaction was made by magnetic analysis and nuclear plate detection of the particles. The observed distributions are Gaussian, with widths which correspond to a deuteron temperature of 1.3 kev. Comparison of the mean proton and triton momenta indicates that no plasma drift in the (axial) direction of observation is present, nor any potential difference between the source plasma and detector greater than a few volts. These results, coupled with previous ones on the neutron yield, duration, source extent, and lack of circumferential drift argue against any of the simple, physically plausible non-Maxwellian acceleration mechanisms for the $d-d$ reactions so far proposed.