A New Ion Acceleration Mechanism in Z-Pinch Discharges of a Plasma FocusDevice

A new mechanism for the acceleration and production of ions in z-pinch discharges, especially plasma focus ispresented. previously. yousefi et al. [phys.plasma 13. 114506 (2006)] studied the multiple compression and pinchmechanism; they reported that this event can be attributed to the (m=o) type instability, while the subsequent ion andneutron acceleration mechanism was not reported. continuing from previous work, mizuguchi et al. [phys.plasma14, 032704 (2007)] studied the simulation of high-energy proton production, generated by shock waves in pinchplasma discharge, by use of a 2d relativistic and fully electromagnetic particle-in-cell code. it was found that protonstrapped in the electrostatic potential produced near the shock front, can be accelerated to a few mev by the surfatronacceleration mechanism. on the other hand, the ring-shape of ion bunches. which is in good agreement withthe experimental results, were shown. now we report another acceleration mechanism for subsequent ion production,which differs from the m=o instabilities caused by the surfatron acceleration mechanism.