Directional, energetic neutron generation via high-intensity laser/plasma interactions at CUOS

Pitcher- catcher arrangements were used for directional, energetic neutron (n) production by the interaction of a beam of deuterons (d's) with catcher materials via 7Li(p,n), d(d,n), and 7Li(d,n). The experiments were conducted at CUOS in Ann Arbor on the T-cubed and Hercules lasers. The utilized method of d-beam production involved depositing D2O onto various cryogenically cooled thin foils, which at optimal parameters produced via high-intensity laser/plasma interactions d-yields substantially greater than that observed in previous experiments [1] involving instead a pitcher target of deuterated-polystyrene (CD) coated 13$\mu $m Mylar, as the latter method was shown to be impaired by hydrocarbon contamination. We present results in which the more recent d-production technique is utilized, which for d-d reactions yielded on the T-cubed system n's up to nearly 2.5 MeV and on the Hercules system up to nearly 12 MeV, with forward yields on the order of 10E5 n/sr ($\sim $10x higher than that previously achieved using either a CD coated pitcher or a bulk target of deuterated polyethylene). The Office of Naval Research provided funding for this work. \\[4pt] [1] L. Willingale et al., Phys. Plasmas 18, 083106 (2011).