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

作　　者：Zhiyu Lei Hanghang Ma Xiaobo Zhang Lin Yu Yihang Zhang Yutong Li Suming Weng Min Chen Jie Zhang Zhengming Sheng 

机构地区：[1]Key Laboratory for Laser Plasmas and School of Physics and Astronomy,Shanghai Jiao Tong University,Shanghai 200240,China [2]Collaborative Innovation Centre of IFSA,Shanghai Jiao Tong University,Shanghai 200240,China [3]Tsung-Dao Lee Institute,Shanghai Jiao Tong University,Shanghai 201210,China [4]College of Physics and Electronics Engineering,Northwest Normal University,Lanzhou 730070,China [5]Beijing National Laboratory for Condensed Matter Physics,Institute of Physics,Chinese Academy of Sciences,Beijing 100190,China

出　　处：《Matter and Radiation at Extremes》2024年第5期22-31,共10页极端条件下的物质与辐射（英文）

基　　金：supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(Grant Nos.11991074,11975154,12135009,12005287,and 12225505);the Strategic Priority Research Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences(Grant No.XDA25050100).

摘　　要：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-10^(16)W~cm^(2)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-10^(20)W~cm^(2),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 10^(18)–10^(19)n/s,and total number 106–107 in a duration-400 fs can be obtained with a 25μm 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.

关 键 词：ACCELERATION scheme ANGULAR 

分 类 号：O57[理学—粒子物理与原子核物理]