Final published version
Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review
Article number | 045015 |
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<mark>Journal publication date</mark> | 04/2010 |
<mark>Journal</mark> | Plasma Physics and Controlled Fusion |
Issue number | 4 |
Volume | 52 |
Number of pages | 15 |
Publication Status | Published |
<mark>Original language</mark> | English |
Numerical simulations of neutron production from deuterium-lithium nuclear fusion reactions have been performed. A set of differential cross sections for the Li-7(d,xn) reaction for incident deuteron energies of up to 50MeV is assembled. The angular distribution of neutrons from a thick lithium target is simulated and benchmarked against experimental data. Two-stage neutron production from laser-target experiments has been studied as a function of laser intensity and energy. During the first stage a well collimated deuteron beam is generated using a high-intensity ultrashort pulse laser. During the second stage it is transported through a lithium target using a 3D Monte-Carlo ion beam-target deposition model. The neutron yield is estimated to be similar to 10(8) neutrons J(-1) laser energy. Some 10(10) neutrons can be expected from a similar to 100 J petawatt-class laser. For incident deuteron energies above 1 MeV the proposed scheme for neutron production from d-Li reactions is superior to that from d-d reactions, producing a collimated beam of neutrons with higher neutron yield.