Microsources of intense fusion in focused discharges of plasma focus

High nuclear reactivity within submillimetric domains in the space structure of the pinch of focused discharges has been studied. The authors report on experiments that describe the emission of D/sup +/ beams and the occurrence of such nuclear fusion reactions for W=5-10 kJ plasma focus (PF) machines operating in the neutron-optimized mode. The results indicate that localized high-density plasma domains of 100- mu m diameter, n/sub i/>or=10/sup 21/ cm/sup -3/, and tau =1-5 ns contribute to the bulk ( approximately 70%) of the observed fusion reactions in the machines. The generality of the observations indicates that the same conclusion is valid for optimized PF machines with any value of W.<>