Nuclear science experiments with a bright neutron source from fusion reactions on the OMEGA Laser System

Subnanosecond impulses of 1013 to 1014 neutrons, produced in direct-drive laser inertial confinement fusion implosions, have been used to irradiate deuterated targets at the OMEGA Laser System (Boehly et al., 1997). The target compounds include heavy water (D2O) and deuterated benzene (C6D6). Yields and energy spectra of neutrons from D(n,2n)p to study the breakup reaction have been measured at a forward angle of θlab=3.5∘±3.5° with a sensitive, high-dynamic-range neutron time-of-flight spectrometer to infer the double-differential breakup cross section d2σ/dE dΩ for 14-MeV D-T fusion neutrons.