Neutron and Hot Electron Production in Nanofoam Targets Using Ultra-Intense Short Pulse Lasers

Generating ion distributions with tens of keV energies at near solid density has the potential to allow nuclear reaction cross section measurements of relevance to astrophysics. Recently, a platform has been proposed [1] which can accomplish this using an ultra-intense short pulse laser and unstructured nanofoam CH or CD targets, which consist of ~100 nm ligaments with a few micron thick plastic front surface. The laser impinging on this front surface produces hot electrons, which stream through the foam, accelerating ions via TNSA normal to the ligaments and creating a plasma in which charged particle reactions can take place. Experimental results using these targets at the Scarlet laser facility in f/17 mode (≤5x10²⁰ W/cm², 30 fs) including the neutron and hot electron production from nanofoam targets as a function of foam composition, converter layer thickness, and incident laser parameters, will be presented.

[1]   Kemp et al. “Generating keV ion distributions for nuclear reactions at near solid-density using intense short-pulse lasers,” Nature Communications, 10, 4156 (2019).