Maximizing Deuteron Yields of Deuterated Titanium TNSA Targets Toward Generating a High-Yield Tritium Beam

First experiments were conducted on the Laboratory for Laser Energetics' Multi-Terawatt (MTW) laser to produce a deuteron beam by target normal sheath acceleration (TNSA) using deuterated Ti targets. Commercial 20-$\mu $m-thick Ti foil was cut into 500 \texttimes 500 $\mu $m$^{\mathrm{2}}$ squares and exposed to atomic deuterium at different temperatures ranging from 60\textdegree C to 350\textdegree C and pressures from 0.1 mTorr to 300 mTorr. An alternative loading method of condensing a titanium-deuterate layer onto the Ti foils was also examined. The MTW laser emitting at 1053 nm was operated in high-energy (24-J), short-pulse (8-ps) mode to produce an on-target intensity of 3 \texttimes 10$^{\mathrm{18}}$ W/cm$^{\mathrm{2}}$. Using a Thomson-parabola ion spectrometer, the energy spectra and total yields of all relevant ion species were determined as a function of deuterium loading. These experiments represent pilot studies for an experimental platform under development at this laboratory to generate a tritium beam on its more-powerful OMEGA EP laser. This material is based upon work supported by the Department of Energy National Nuclear Security Administration under Award Number DE-NA0003856.