On the Contribution of a Cluster Target to Generation of the DD Neutrons in a Nanosecond Vacuum Discharge

A compact scheme of the inertial electrostatic confinement with reverse polarity based on the nanosecond vacuum discharge (NVD) enables acceleration of ions to energies sufficient for initiation of nuclear reactions. For example, the deuterium ions are accelerated in the field of a virtual cathode (in a potential well), and nuclear DD fusion can occur upon their head-on collisions with energies of ~100 keV. If the potential well in the vacuum discharge turns out to be filled by deuterium-containing clusters, there appears an additional, “accelerated ion–cluster” channel of the DD fusion. In the present work, we discuss and analyze the role of a cluster target in generation of the DD neutrons in an NVD.