Neutron generating apparatus

Claim 1

A NEUTRON GENERATING APPARATUS COMPRISING: (A) A SEALED CASING FRO CONTAINING A GAS UNDER LOW PRESSURE; (B) AN ELECTRICALLY HEATABLE WIRE DISPOSED WITHIN SAID CASING FOR RELEASING A GAS INCLUDING AT LEAST ONE ISOTOPE OF HYDROGEN, SUCH GAS BEING OCCLUDED IN SAID WIRE FOR RELEASE UPON THE HEATING THEREOF; (C) MEANS FOR APPLYING HIGH FREQUENCY ELECTROMAGNETIC ENERGY TO SUCH RELEASED GAS TO CONVERT A PORTION THEREOF INTO A PLASMA HAVING A PREDETERMINED BOUNDARY; (D) A TARGET ELECTRODE DISPOSED WITHIN SAID CASING, SAID TARGET INCLUDING A PLURALITY OF SEGMENTS DEFINING A CHAMBER FOR SUBSTANTIALLY CONTAINING THE PLASMA, SAID TARGET BEING DISPOSED IN PREDETERMINED SPACED RELATION TO THE BOUNDARY OF SAID PLASMA, SAID TARGET HAVING AN EXPOSED SURFACE OF MATERIAL CAPABLE OF OCCLUDING A QUANTITY OF SUCH RELEASED GAS; (E) AN ANODE ELECTRODE DISPOSED WITHIN SAID CASING FOR EXTENSION INTO SAID PLASMA CHAMBER; AND (F) VOLTAGE PULSE GENERATING MEANS OPERATIVELY CONNECTED TO SAID TARGET AND ANODE ELECTRODE FOR APPLYING AN ELECTRIC POTENTIAL DIFFERENCE THEREBETWEEN TO GENERATE AND ACCELERATE OF BEAM OF IONS FLOWING FROM THE PLASMA BOUNDARY AND STRIKING THE TARGET WHEREBY THE IMPACT OF SAID IONS PRODUCES NUCLEAR REACTIONS IN THE TARGET MATERIAL TO GENERATE NEUTRONS.