Fusion reactions from >150 keV ions in a dense plasma focus plasmoid

Using a dense plasma focus device with a 50 kJ capacitor charge, we have observed fusion reactions from deuterium ions with record energies of >150 keV, which are confined for durations of 7–30 ns in the cores of plasmoids with typical radii of 300–500 μm and densities ∼3 × 1019 cm−3. We have for the first time simultaneously imaged the plasmoid at high (30 μm) resolution and measured trapped ion energy and neutron anisotropy. The isotropy of the neutron emission as well as other observations confirms that the observed neutrons per pulse of up to 1.5 × 1011 are produced mainly by confined ions, not an unconfined beam. The conditions achieved are of interest for aneutronic fusion, such as with pB11 fuel.