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Improved yield and control of spectra from high-intensity laser-generated neutron beams

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 January 2018

Brian J. Albright ,
Lin Yin  and
Andrea Favalli
Brian J. Albright*
Affiliation:
Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, New Mexico 87545, USA
Lin Yin
Affiliation:
Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, New Mexico 87545, USA
Andrea Favalli
Affiliation:
Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, New Mexico 87545, USA
*
Author for correspondence: Brian J. Albright, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, New Mexico 87545, USA. E-mail: balbright@lanl.gov
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Abstract

Kinetic modeling of laser-ion beam generation from the “break-out afterburner” (BOA) has been modeled for several deuteron-rich solid-density target foils. Modeling the transport of these beams in a beryllium converter shows as much as a fourfold increase in neutron yield over the present state of the art through the use of alternative target materials. Additionally, species-separation dynamics during the BOA can be exploited to control the hardness of the neutron spectra, of interest for, for example, enhancing penetrability in shielded material in active neutron interrogation settings.

Keywords

Deuteronshigh-intensity lasersion accelerationneutronsrelativistic-induced transparency
Type
Research Article
Information
Laser and Particle Beams , Volume 36 , Issue 1 , March 2018 , pp. 15 - 21
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2018 

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