Neutron emission from a deuterated solid target irradiated by an ultraintense laser pulse

Abstract

Neutron production from a deuterated solid target irradiated by an ultraintense laser pulse is studied by means of kinetic numerical simulations. A two-dimensional particle-in-cell code is used to compute the velocity distribution of the deuterium ions accelerated during the interaction of the laser pulse with a hot deuterium plasma. A postprocessor has been designed to evaluate the slowing down of these ions in the solid unionized target, and the amount of neutrons produced by nuclear reactions between the accelerated and target ions. The energy and angle distributions of these neutrons are computed and compared to recent experimental results.

Observation of neutrons in the interaction of high intensity laser pulses with solid targets

“…The other source of neutrons e.g. electro disintegration of D atoms or photo dissociation of D or C atoms as well as other beam target reaction are expected to have negligible contribution in our relatively low intensity laser irradiation condition [11,12]. Here it is also important to note that for the low contrast laser, as in our case, deuterium ions are essentially accelerated in radial direction and it is observed that neutrons are emitted isotropically (or with weak anisotropy) [7].…”

“…Here it is also important to note that for the low contrast laser, as in our case, deuterium ions are essentially accelerated in radial direction and it is observed that neutrons are emitted isotropically (or with weak anisotropy) [7]. In contrast, for a high contrast laser pulses, the deuterons are mainly accelerated in forward direction and in this case the neutron anisotropy will be large [11,12].…”

Optimizing Laser-accelerated Ion Beams for a Collimated Neutron Source

“…Neutron yields from the dual target configuration are calculated in a similar manner to previous studies [4,5,6,7,10]. The model uses a Monte-Carlo method by randomly selecting individual deuterium ions from the specified incident ion spectrum.…”

“…As the incident deuterium ion penetrates a distance dx into the target, the neutron flux contribution over that distance is given by [4,6]:…”

“…Finally, the consideration of neutron generation by means other than D-D fusion events has been explored by Toupin et. al [4]. The The incident deuterium spectrum is not simulated by the program, but rather is taken as an input parameter.…”