Characterizing laser-plasma ion accelerators driving an intense neutron beam via nuclear signatures.

Autor: Favalli A; Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, New Mexico, 87545, USA. afavalli@lanl.gov., Guler N; Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, New Mexico, 87545, USA.; Spectral Sciences, Burlington, Massachusetts, 01803, USA., Henzlova D; Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, New Mexico, 87545, USA., Croft S; Oak Ridge National Laboratory, 1 Bethel Valley Road, Oak Ridge, TN, 37831, USA., Falk K; ELI Beamlines, Institute of Physics of the ASCR, Na Slovance 2, Prague, 18221, Czech Republic.; Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf, 01328, Dresden, Germany., Gautier DC; Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, New Mexico, 87545, USA., Ianakiev KD; Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, New Mexico, 87545, USA., Iliev M; Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, New Mexico, 87545, USA., Palaniyappan S; Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, New Mexico, 87545, USA., Roth M; Institut für Kernphysik, Technische Universität Darmstadt, 64289, Darmstadt, Germany., Fernandez JC; Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, New Mexico, 87545, USA., Swinhoe MT; Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, New Mexico, 87545, USA.
Jazyk: angličtina
Zdroj: Scientific reports [Sci Rep] 2019 Feb 14; Vol. 9 (1), pp. 2004. Date of Electronic Publication: 2019 Feb 14.
DOI: 10.1038/s41598-019-39054-z
Abstrakt: Compact, bright neutron sources are opening up several emerging applications including detection of nuclear materials for national security applications. At Los Alamos National Laboratory, we have used a short-pulse laser to accelerate deuterons in the relativistic transparency regime. These deuterons impinge on a beryllium converter to generate neutrons. During the initial experiments where these neutrons were used for active interrogation of uranium and plutonium, we observed β-delayed neutron production from decay of 9 Li, formed by the high-energy deuteron bombardment of the beryllium converter. Analysis of the delayed neutrons provides novel evidence of the divergence of the highest energy portion of the deuterons (i.e., above 10 MeV/nucleon) from the laser axis, a documented feature of the breakout afterburner laser-plasma ion acceleration mechanism. These delayed neutrons form the basis of non-intrusive diagnostics for determining the features of deuteron acceleration as well as monitoring neutron production for the next generation of laser-driven neutron sources.
Databáze: MEDLINE
Externí odkaz: