Final published version
Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review
Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review
}
TY - JOUR
T1 - Ultra-intense laser neutron generation through efficient deuteron acceleration
AU - Zulick, C.
AU - Dollar, F.
AU - Chvykov, V.
AU - Davis, J.
AU - Kalinchenko, G.
AU - Maksimchuk, A.
AU - Petrov, G. M.
AU - Raymond, A.
AU - Thomas, A. G. R.
AU - Willingale, L.
AU - Yanovsky, V.
AU - Krushelnick, K.
PY - 2013/5/7
Y1 - 2013/5/7
N2 - Experiments at the HERCULES laser facility, originally reported by C. Zulick, et al in Applied Physics Letters (2013), have produced neutron beams with energies up to 16:8(+/- 0:3) MeV using Li-7(3)(d,n)(4)Be-8 reactions. These efficient deuteron reactions required the selective acceleration of deuterons through the introduction of a deuterated plastic or cryogenically frozen D2O layer on the surface of a thin film target. It was shown that a optimized frozen D2O layer, formed in situ, yielded the highest efficiency deuteron acceleration with deuterons constituting over 99% of the accelerated light ions. The deuteron signal was optimized with respect to the delay between the heavy water deposition and laser pulse arrival, as well as the temperature of the target. A total conversion efficiency of laser energy to neutron energy of 1(+/- 0:5) x 10(-5) was obtained. The simulated neutron signal was found to be in reasonable agreement with the experimental spectra. The scattering of neutrons through shielding and target materials was investigated with MCNPX and determined to have a small effect on the observed neutron energies.
AB - Experiments at the HERCULES laser facility, originally reported by C. Zulick, et al in Applied Physics Letters (2013), have produced neutron beams with energies up to 16:8(+/- 0:3) MeV using Li-7(3)(d,n)(4)Be-8 reactions. These efficient deuteron reactions required the selective acceleration of deuterons through the introduction of a deuterated plastic or cryogenically frozen D2O layer on the surface of a thin film target. It was shown that a optimized frozen D2O layer, formed in situ, yielded the highest efficiency deuteron acceleration with deuterons constituting over 99% of the accelerated light ions. The deuteron signal was optimized with respect to the delay between the heavy water deposition and laser pulse arrival, as well as the temperature of the target. A total conversion efficiency of laser energy to neutron energy of 1(+/- 0:5) x 10(-5) was obtained. The simulated neutron signal was found to be in reasonable agreement with the experimental spectra. The scattering of neutrons through shielding and target materials was investigated with MCNPX and determined to have a small effect on the observed neutron energies.
KW - neutron
KW - deuteron
KW - laser ion acceleration
KW - ultra-high intensity
KW - ION-BEAMS
KW - RADIOGRAPHY
KW - TARGETS
KW - PULSES
U2 - 10.1117/12.2019086
DO - 10.1117/12.2019086
M3 - Journal article
VL - 8779
JO - Proceedings of SPIE
JF - Proceedings of SPIE
SN - 0277-786X
T2 - Conference on Laser Acceleration of Electrons, Protons, and Ions II; and Medical Applications of Laser-Generated Beams of Particles II; and Harnessing Relativistic Plasma Waves III
Y2 - 15 April 2013 through 18 April 2013
ER -