Plasma focus as a source of intense radiation and plasma streams for technological applications

摘要

Dense Plasma Focus, a device invented more than 30 years ago, is until now one of the most bright and efficient source of ionizing radiation (neutrons, soft and hard X-rays, electron and ion streams). Being relatively cheap and flexible (energy stored in condenser battery and driving the phenomena from 0.2 kJ up to 1MJ) DPF fits very well to a number of applications in different fields e.g. nanotechnology, material science, defectoscopy, biology, medicine etc.. Already investigated and existing applications of DPF, as well as those of future potential are presented and discussed in the paper. Specific demands for radiation sources based on DPF principle to be used in above mentioned fields, problems encountered and methods how to overcome them are briefly indicated.