High-Flux Neutron Generator Based on Laser-Driven Collisionless Shock Acceleration

Yao, Y. L.; He, Simin; Lei, Zhu; Ye, T.; Xie, Yaoqin; Deng, Zhigang; Cui, Bohua; Qi, Wei; Yang, Lei; Zhu, Shaoping; He, X. T.; Zhou, Weimin; Qiao, B.

doi:10.1103/physrevlett.131.025101

Cited by 4 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 48 publications

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“…An optimum pulse duration of 150 fs is found in our case, which explains the different proton collimation accelerations between femtosecond and picosecond LG lasers in previous experiments and simulations. Our researches give insights into understanding the beam formation mechanism driven by LG lasers, which is beneficial for a wide range of applications, such as proton induced x-ray emission [39], proton probe [40][41][42], fast ignition [17,43], tumor therapy [19,44], neutron source [45][46][47][48], astrophysical jet research [49][50][51], and proton imaging [52][53][54].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Optimal collimation of proton beams accelerated by a Laguerre–Gaussian laser with a proper pulse duration

Wang,

Shi

et al. 2024

Plasma Phys. Control. Fusion

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In this study, three-dimensional particle-in-cell (PIC) simulations were conducted to evaluate a collimated proton beam accelerated by an intense Laguerre-Gaussian (LG) laser with different pulse widths. The flux and energy of the collimated proton beam could be simultaneously enhanced by selecting an optimal pulse width. This phenomenon can be primarily attributed to the correlation between the LG laser driven self-generated magnetic field and pulse width, and this correlation enables the collimation of protons during their interaction and transport. The results obtained in this study elucidate the formation mechanism of different collimated proton patterns, driven by femtosecond and picosecond LG lasers, observed in previous experiments. In addition, based on these results, an optimum pulse width for high-quality proton beams is proposed for various future applications.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Optimal collimation of proton beams accelerated by a Laguerre–Gaussian laser with a proper pulse duration

Wang,

Shi

et al. 2024

Plasma Phys. Control. Fusion

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Compact ultrafast neutron sources via bulk acceleration of deuteron ions in an optical trap

Lei,

Ma,

Zhang

et al. 2024

Matter and Radiation at Extremes

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A scheme for a quasi-monoenergetic high-flux neutron source with femtosecond duration and highly anisotropic angular distribution is proposed. This scheme is based on bulk acceleration of deuteron ions in an optical trap or density grating formed by two counter-propagating laser pulses at an intensity of ∼1016W/cm2 in a near-critical-density plasma. The deuterons are first pre-accelerated to an energy of tens of keV in the ambipolar fields formed in the optical trap. Their energy is boosted to the MeV level by another one or two laser pulses at an intensity of ∼1020W/cm2, enabling fusion reactions to be triggered with high efficiency. In contrast to previously proposed pitcher–catcher configurations, our scheme can provide spatially periodic acceleration structures and effective collisions between deuterons inside the whole target volume. Subsequently, neutrons are generated directly inside the optical trap. Our simulations show that neutron pulses with energy 2–8 MeV, yield 1018–1019n/s, and total number 106–107 in a duration ∼400 fs can be obtained with a 25 μm target. Moreover, the neutron pulses exhibit unique angularly dependent energy spectra and flux distributions, predominantly along the axis of the energy-boosting lasers. Such microsize femtosecond neutron pulses may find many applications, such as high-resolution fast neutron imaging and nuclear physics research.

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Electron Slingshot Acceleration in Relativistic Preturbulent Shocks Explored via Emitted Photon Polarization

Gong,

Shen,

Hatsagortsyan

et al. 2023

Phys. Rev. Lett.

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High-Flux Neutron Generator Based on Laser-Driven Collisionless Shock Acceleration

Cited by 4 publications

References 48 publications

Optimal collimation of proton beams accelerated by a Laguerre–Gaussian laser with a proper pulse duration

Optimal collimation of proton beams accelerated by a Laguerre–Gaussian laser with a proper pulse duration

Compact ultrafast neutron sources via bulk acceleration of deuteron ions in an optical trap

Electron Slingshot Acceleration in Relativistic Preturbulent Shocks Explored via Emitted Photon Polarization

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