Particle beam fusion research at IAE in Beijing

The research of particle beam fusion and its related problems at The Institute of Atomic Energy in Beijing is evolving along the following five directions: 1. Pulsed power technology. An 80 GW intense electron beam accelerator has been built. Switch research is ongoing. 2. Diode research. The experimental research and theoretical simulation of electron pinch in the diode have been carried out. The pinch process has been investigated by measuring the area collapsing velocity of the pinching electron ring on the anode surface. Expanding velocities of the cathode and anode plasmas have been observed. The diode with large area cathode of 38 × 5 cm2 can produce a 46 kA electron beam current with a beam cross-section of 36 × 4 cm2 and good uniformity for pumping of a KrF laser. 3. Energy deposition of the electron beam on the targets has been studied by means of measurements of the intensity of soft X-rays, the energy spectrum of blow-off ions, the visible light spectra and the rear surface velocity of the target. These experiments show that the results are in agreement with the classical interaction mechanism for high Z targets, but it is several times higher than the classical result for low Z targets. 4. Electron beam propagation in neutral gases with various pressures space-and current-neutralization processes have been investigated. 5. The production of a KrF laser pumped by an electron beam. A laser beam with an energy of 13 J and pulse duration of 70 ns has been obtained.