Ion heating in a plasma focus

Abstract

Ion acceleration and heating in a plasma focus were investigated by the numerical integration of the three-dimensional equations of motion. The electric and magnetic fields given were derived from experimental data. The results obtained show that during the collapse phase of focus formation, ions are efficiently heated to temperatures of several keV. During the phase of rapid current reduction, ions are accelerated to large velocities in the axial direction. The results obtained with the model are in general agreement with experimental results.