Article ID | Journal | Published Year | Pages | File Type |
---|---|---|---|---|
8083598 | Matter and Radiation at Extremes | 2017 | 7 Pages |
Abstract
Relativistic electron beams driven by laser wakefield acceleration were utilized to produce ultrashort neutron sources. The experiment was carried out on the 38 fs, â¼0.5 J, 800 nm Ti:Sapphire laser in the 10 TW UT3 laser lab at University of Texas at Austin. The target gas was a high density pulsed gas jet composed of 90% He and 10% N2. The laser pulse with a peak intensity of 1.5 Ã 1018 W/cm2 interacted with the target to create a cylindrical plasma channel of 60 μm radius (FWHM) and 1.5 mm length (FWHM). Electron beams of â¼80 pC with the Gaussian energy distribution centered at 37 MeV and a width of 30 MeV (FWHM) were produced via laser wakefield acceleration. Neutron fluences of â¼2.4 Ã 106 per shot with hundreds of ps temporal length were generated through bremsstrahlung and subsequent photoneutron reactions in a 26.6 mm thick tungsten converter. Results were compared with those of simulations using EPOCH and GEANT4, showing agreement in electron spectrum, neutron fluence, neutron angular distribution and conversion rate.
Related Topics
Physical Sciences and Engineering
Energy
Nuclear Energy and Engineering
Authors
X.J. Jiao, J.M. Shaw, T. Wang, X.M. Wang, H. Tsai, P. Poth, I. Pomerantz, L.A. Labun, T. Toncian, M.C. Downer, B.M. Hegelich,