A miniature thermal neutron source using high power lasers

The continuous improvement of high power laser technologies is recasting the prospects of small-scale neutron sources to enable scientific communities and industries performing experiments that are currently offered at extensive accelerator-driven facilities. This paper reports moderation of laser-d...

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Veröffentlicht in:Applied physics letters 2020-04, Vol.116 (17)
Hauptverfasser: Mirfayzi, S. R., Ahmed, H., Doria, D., Alejo, A., Ansell, S., Clarke, R. J., Gonzalez-Izquierdo, B., Hadjisolomou, P., Heathcote, R., Hodge, T., Martin, P., Raspino, D., Schooneveld, E., McKenna, P., Rhodes, N. J., Neely, D., Borghesi, M., Kar, S.
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Sprache:eng
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Zusammenfassung:The continuous improvement of high power laser technologies is recasting the prospects of small-scale neutron sources to enable scientific communities and industries performing experiments that are currently offered at extensive accelerator-driven facilities. This paper reports moderation of laser-driven fast neutrons to thermal energies using a compact, modular, moderator assembly. A significant thermal (∼25 meV) flux of ∼106 n/sr/pulse was measured from water and plastic moderators in a proof-of-principle experiment employing a relatively moderate power laser delivering 200 J on the target in 10 ps. Using Monte Carlo N-Particle eXtended simulations, the experimental results are reproduced and discussed.
ISSN:0003-6951
1077-3118
DOI:10.1063/5.0003170