Neutron production by fast protons from ultraintense laser-plasma interactions

J. M. Yang; P. McKenna; K. W.D. Ledingham; T. McCanny; L. Robson; S. Shimizu; R. P. Singhal; M. S. Wei; K. Krushelnick; R. J. Clarke; D. Neely; P. A. Norreys

doi:10.1063/1.1814421

Neutron production by fast protons from ultraintense laser-plasma interactions

J. M. Yang^*, P. McKenna, K. W.D. Ledingham, T. McCanny, L. Robson, S. Shimizu, R. P. Singhal, M. S. Wei, K. Krushelnick, R. J. Clarke, D. Neely, P. A. Norreys

^*Corresponding author for this work

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Abstract

Tens of MeV proton beams have been generated by interactions of the VULCAN petawatt laser with foil targets and used to induce nuclear reactions in zinc and boron samples. The numbers of ¹¹C, ⁶⁶Ga, ⁶⁷Ga, ⁶⁸Ga, ⁶¹Cu, ⁶²Zn, ⁶³Zn, and ^69mZn nuclei have been measured and used to determine the proton energy spectrum. It is known that (p,n) reactions provide an important method for producing neutron sources and in the present experiment up to ∼10⁹ neutrons sr^-1 have been generated via ¹¹B(p,n)¹¹C reactions. Using experimentally determined proton energy spectra, the production of neutrons via (p,n) reactions in various targets has been simulated, to quantify neutron pulse intensities and energy spectra. It has been shown that as high as 4 × 10⁹ neutrons sr^-1 per laser pulse can be generated via ⁷Li(p,n) ⁷B reactions using the present VULCAN petawatt laser-pulse conditions.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	6912-6918
Number of pages	7
Journal	Journal of Applied Physics
Volume	96
Issue number	11
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1063/1.1814421
Publication status	Published - 1 Dec 2004

Funding

The authors would like to acknowledge the expertise of the VULCAN operations team. One of the authors (J.M.Y.) acknowledges support from China Scholarship Council. (P.McK.) is supported by a Royal Society of Edinburgh/SEELLD research fellowship. (S.S.) acknowledges the support from the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science. This work is funded by the EPSRC(UK).

Keywords

chemical reaction cross sections
neutron spectra
chemical elements
nuclear reactions and processes
neutron sources
gamma rays
neutron energy
laser plasma interactions

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title = "Neutron production by fast protons from ultraintense laser-plasma interactions",

abstract = "Tens of MeV proton beams have been generated by interactions of the VULCAN petawatt laser with foil targets and used to induce nuclear reactions in zinc and boron samples. The numbers of 11C, 66Ga, 67Ga, 68Ga, 61Cu, 62Zn, 63Zn, and 69mZn nuclei have been measured and used to determine the proton energy spectrum. It is known that (p,n) reactions provide an important method for producing neutron sources and in the present experiment up to ∼109 neutrons sr-1 have been generated via 11B(p,n)11C reactions. Using experimentally determined proton energy spectra, the production of neutrons via (p,n) reactions in various targets has been simulated, to quantify neutron pulse intensities and energy spectra. It has been shown that as high as 4 × 109 neutrons sr-1 per laser pulse can be generated via 7Li(p,n) 7B reactions using the present VULCAN petawatt laser-pulse conditions.",

keywords = "chemical reaction cross sections, neutron spectra, chemical elements, nuclear reactions and processes, neutron sources, gamma rays, neutron energy, laser plasma interactions",

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AU - McKenna, P.

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AU - Singhal, R. P.

AU - Wei, M. S.

AU - Krushelnick, K.

AU - Clarke, R. J.

AU - Neely, D.

AU - Norreys, P. A.

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PY - 2004/12/1

Y1 - 2004/12/1

N2 - Tens of MeV proton beams have been generated by interactions of the VULCAN petawatt laser with foil targets and used to induce nuclear reactions in zinc and boron samples. The numbers of 11C, 66Ga, 67Ga, 68Ga, 61Cu, 62Zn, 63Zn, and 69mZn nuclei have been measured and used to determine the proton energy spectrum. It is known that (p,n) reactions provide an important method for producing neutron sources and in the present experiment up to ∼109 neutrons sr-1 have been generated via 11B(p,n)11C reactions. Using experimentally determined proton energy spectra, the production of neutrons via (p,n) reactions in various targets has been simulated, to quantify neutron pulse intensities and energy spectra. It has been shown that as high as 4 × 109 neutrons sr-1 per laser pulse can be generated via 7Li(p,n) 7B reactions using the present VULCAN petawatt laser-pulse conditions.

AB - Tens of MeV proton beams have been generated by interactions of the VULCAN petawatt laser with foil targets and used to induce nuclear reactions in zinc and boron samples. The numbers of 11C, 66Ga, 67Ga, 68Ga, 61Cu, 62Zn, 63Zn, and 69mZn nuclei have been measured and used to determine the proton energy spectrum. It is known that (p,n) reactions provide an important method for producing neutron sources and in the present experiment up to ∼109 neutrons sr-1 have been generated via 11B(p,n)11C reactions. Using experimentally determined proton energy spectra, the production of neutrons via (p,n) reactions in various targets has been simulated, to quantify neutron pulse intensities and energy spectra. It has been shown that as high as 4 × 109 neutrons sr-1 per laser pulse can be generated via 7Li(p,n) 7B reactions using the present VULCAN petawatt laser-pulse conditions.

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Neutron production by fast protons from ultraintense laser-plasma interactions

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