Generation of fast neutrons through deuteron acceleration at the PALS laser facility

Recent experiments at the laser facility PALS focused on the laser driven fusion of deuterons are reviewed. They benefit of high reaction cross-sections and of a high number of multi-MeV deuterons from thick CD sub(2) targets irradiated by intensity of 3x 10 super(16) W cm super(-2). In the reported...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published inJournal of instrumentation Vol. 11; no. 3; p. C03050
Main Authors Krása, J., Klír, D., Velyhan, A., Řezáč, K., Cikhardt, J., Ryć, L., Krouský, E., Pfeifer, M., Marco, M. De, Skála, J., Dudžák, R., Ullschmied, J.
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published 23.03.2016
Subjects
Catchers
Cross sections
Deuterons
Fast neutrons
Foils
Instrumentation
Kinetic energy
Lasers
Online AccessGet full text

Cover

More Information
Summary:Recent experiments at the laser facility PALS focused on the laser driven fusion of deuterons are reviewed. They benefit of high reaction cross-sections and of a high number of multi-MeV deuterons from thick CD sub(2) targets irradiated by intensity of 3x 10 super(16) W cm super(-2). In the reported experiments fast fusion neutrons with energy up to 16 MeV were produced through super(7) Li(d, n) super(8) Be and super(11) B(d, n) super(12) C reactions in a pitcher-catcher target configuration. When using a large area CD sub(2) foil as a secondary catcher target the total maximum neutron yield from the super(2) H(d, n) super(3) He reaction increased by a factor of about 5, from 4x 10 super(8) to 2x 10 super(9). This result reveals that most of the deuterons having enough kinetic energy to enter a fusion reaction are emitted from the primary target into vacuum.
Bibliography:ObjectType-Article-1
SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1
ObjectType-Feature-2
content type line 23
ISSN:1748-0221
1748-0221
DOI:10.1088/1748-0221/11/03/C03050