Demon core
"Demon core" (1) is the ball, where is a small plutonium bite in the steel core, and when the structure is targeted by using electromagnetic radiation the increasing level of the radiation turns dangerous. The structure has been used in the modern ERW (Enhanced Radiation Weapons), but there is little know the thing that it is planned to use as the power source of some of the most exotic nuclear rocket solutions.
Sometimes when we are hearing tales about "Ulam's demon" that means the demon core, what is used in the rocket engine for giving extremely high speed for that rocket. In some models, what are created during the "Orion project" the demon core would put in the reaction chamber of the rocket engine, and the electric impulses would conduct to the demon core. The increasing level of the radiation will make the radiation, which makes the special impulse, what travels in the speed of the light.
The "demon core" is the term that is used in some nuclear weapon structures, where the subcritical bite of the radioactive material is closed in the metallic core. When the electromagnetic radiation would be targeted to the steel ball, where the nuclear material is, it causes a very powerful burst of the radiation, and the thing that makes this core extremely dangerous is that there are no visible signs of fission outside the structure.
"Demon core" caused the death of three scientists in Los Alamos. During that fatal test the persons, who made that test conducted X-ray in the steel ball, and suddenly the powerful radioactive burst caused heavy injuries and death for those people. So what makes this deadly and horrifying effect?
The reason for that effect is that when the electromagnetic radiation hits the radioactive material that material starts to send beta and gamma radiation. When the electric pumping continues, the material will send the high level of the radiation.
The thing is that when the X-ray would impact the plutonium ball, it sends the beta radiation. The fast electrons hit the steel ball or steel core and induct the electric field in that bite. And then the gamma-radiation would go through the powerful electric field, which increases its power.
"The demon core" is one of the most effective structures in the newest sub-critical nuclear weapons. In those new type of neutron bombs or ERW (Enhanced Radiation Weapon), the plutonium bite would be shot by using lasers or cathode rays, and that thing makes possible to create extremely small size nuclear weapons.
(1) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demon_core
Image: https://www.atomicheritage.org/article/death-louis-slotin
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