[Table of Contents]

Plasma and Fusion Research

Volume 10, 2404003 (2015)

Regular Articles

High-Intensity Neutron Generation via Laser-Driven Photonuclear Reaction
Yasunobu ARIKAWA, Masaru UTSUGI, Morace ALESSIO, Takahiro NAGAI, Yuki ABE, Sadaoki KOJIMA, Shohei SAKATA, Hiroaki INOUE, Shinsuke FUJIOKA, Zhe ZHANG, Hui CHEN1), Jaebum PARK1), Jackson WILLIAMS1), Taichi MORITA, Yoichi SAKAWA, Yoshiki NAKATA, Junji KAWANAKA, Takahisa JITSUNO, Nobuhiko SARUKURA, Noriaki MIYANAGA, Mitsuo NAKAI, Hiroyuki SHIRAGA, Hiroaki NISHIMURA and Hiroshi AZECHI
Institute of Laser Engineering, Osaka University, Suita 565-0871, Japan
1)
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Livermore, CA 94550, USA
(Received 8 July 2013 / Accepted 21 December 2014 / Published 30 January 2015)

Abstract

The generation of high-peak-intensity neutrons through a photonuclear reaction was demonstrated using the Laser for Fast Ignition Experiments (LFEX) at Osaka University. Up to 109 neutrons/shot were generated from a 1 mm sized gold target. Using Monte Carlo simulations, the neutron spectrum from keV to MeV was found to be independent of the γ-ray spectrum. The typical peak neutron intensity of 1021 neutrons/cm2/s at the target surface was estimated, and it should be a useful tool for nuclear synthesis experiments.

Keywords

laser neutron generation, photonuclear reaction

DOI: 10.1585/pfr.10.2404003

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This paper may be cited as follows:

Yasunobu ARIKAWA, Masaru UTSUGI, Morace ALESSIO, Takahiro NAGAI, Yuki ABE, Sadaoki KOJIMA, Shohei SAKATA, Hiroaki INOUE, Shinsuke FUJIOKA, Zhe ZHANG, Hui CHEN, Jaebum PARK, Jackson WILLIAMS, Taichi MORITA, Yoichi SAKAWA, Yoshiki NAKATA, Junji KAWANAKA, Takahisa JITSUNO, Nobuhiko SARUKURA, Noriaki MIYANAGA, Mitsuo NAKAI, Hiroyuki SHIRAGA, Hiroaki NISHIMURA and Hiroshi AZECHI, Plasma Fusion Res. 10, 2404003 (2015).