In findings that could help advance another "viable pathway" to fusion energy, research led by Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) physicists has proven the existence of neutrons produced through thermonuclear reactions from a sheared-flow stabilized Z-pinch device.
The researchers used advanced computer modeling techniques and diagnostic measurement devices honed at LLNL to solve a decades-old problem of distinguishing neutrons produced by thermonuclear reactions from ones produced by ion beam-driven instabilities for plasmas in the magneto-inertial fusion regime.
While the team's previous research showed neutrons measured from sheared-flow stabilized Z-pinch devices were "consistent with thermonuclear production, we hadn't completely proven it yet," said LLNL physicist Drew Higginson, one of the co-authors of a paper recently published in Physics of Plasmas.
"This is direct proof that thermonuclear fusion produces these neutrons and not ions driven by beam instabilities," said Higginson, principal investigator of the Portable and Adaptable Neutron Diagnostics (PANDA) team that is doing research under a Department of Energy Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) cooperative agreement. "It's not proven they're going to get energy gain, but it is a promising result that suggests they are on a favorable path."
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