Matter and Radiation at Extremes, Volume. 2, Issue 6, 296(2017)

A tabletop, ultrashort pulse photoneutron source driven by electrons from laser wakefield acceleration

X.J. Jiao1,*... J.M. Shaw1, T. Wang1, X.M. Wang1, H. Tsai1, P. Poth2, I. Pomerantz1,3, L.A. Labun1, T. Toncian1, M.C. Downer1 and B.M. Hegelich1 |Show fewer author(s)
Author Affiliations
  • 1Center for High Energy Density Science, University of Texas, Austin, TX 78712, USA
  • 2Institut fu¨r Kernphysik, Technische Universit€at Darmstadt, Germany
  • 3The School of Physics and Astronomy, Tel-Aviv University, Tel-Aviv, 69978, Israel
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    Relativistic electron beams driven by laser wakefield acceleration were utilized to produce ultrashort neutron sources. The experiment was carried out on the 38 fs, ~0.5 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 1.5×1018 W/cm2 interacted with the target to create a cylindrical plasma channel of 60 mm radius (FWHM) and 1.5 mm length (FWHM). Electron beams of ~80 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 ~2.4×106 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.

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    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. A tabletop, ultrashort pulse photoneutron source driven by electrons from laser wakefield acceleration[J]. Matter and Radiation at Extremes, 2017, 2(6): 296

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    Paper Information

    Category: Research Article

    Received: Jul. 6, 2017

    Accepted: Sep. 20, 2017

    Published Online: Jan. 17, 2018

    The Author Email: Jiao X.J. (jiao@utexas.edu)

    DOI:10.1016/j.mre.2017.10.003

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