The neutrons emission during the nanosecond discharge in deuterium with inhomogeneous electric field distribution

This paper is devoted to the study of neutrons generation in the high-voltage nanosecond discharge under conditions of sharply nonuniform electric field distribution in the interelectrode gap. Stable neutron yield was obtained when a metal plate coated with a layer of deuterated zirconium (cathode) and stainless steel tube (anode), were used as electrodes. It is shown, that at a pressure of the deuterium of several ones torr generation of the neutrons is observed when using deuterium-free cathodes. The influence of anode's design on the neutrons yield was investigated.