Neutron Production in Linear Deuterium Pinches

Approximately 10⁸ neutrons per discharge have been observed from magnetically self-constricted columns of deuterium plasma. These neutrons originated uniformly and simultaneously along a filament at the center of the discharge tube, but measurements of their kinetic energies showed that they were produced by a small group of deuterons with large axial velocities and were therefore not of thermonuclear origin. It is proposed that the deuterons were accelerated by axial electric fields created by the growth of m=0 ("sausage-type") instabilities.