First demonstration of a neutron-beam source using laser-driven D$^{\mathrm{+\thinspace }}$ions accelerated from thin films of deuterated liquid crystal

Energetic (10s MeV) neutron-beam sources have important applications including the non-destructive probing of dense materials and nuclear waste transmutation, but these applications require high average flux currently achievable only using large accelerator facilities or reactors. The use of small-scale laser facilities to generate these neutron beams is still an ongoing research effort. At the same time, free-standing thin films (\textless 1 um) of liquid crystals (LC) have been used on PW-class lasers as plasma mirrors and ion-acceleration targets and are ideal for high repetition rate, in-situ target formation. We have developed a new technique to synthesize deuterated liquid crystals with \textless 2{\%} remaining hydrogen content. Here we report on an experiment conducted at the Scarlet laser facility where thin films of LC were used to generate a beam of \textgreater 4 MeV deuterons directed into a Be converter producing fast neutrons through the nuclear stripping reaction. We measured a n$^{\mathrm{0}}$ yield of \textgreater 2 x 10$^{\mathrm{7}}${\#}/sr.