Effect of the Prepulse Width on the Neutron Generation in a Femtosecond, Deuterated, Polystyrene Plasma

Fast neutrons were generated from a deuterated polystyrene (C$_8$D$_8$) solid target by using an ultraintense Ti:sapphire laser with a 27-fs pulse width and a 260-mJ pulse energy. The dependency of neutron generation on the amplified spontaneous emission (ASE) width was analyzed in terms of the deuteron energy. At a shorter ASE width of 1 ns, neutron tracks of the 3533/pulse were obtained for a target thickness of 80 $\mu$m. In addition, the time-of-flight (TOF) neutron signal was analyzed in terms of the X-ray and the neutron signals. KCI Citation Count: 8