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Research Progress of Beam-target Neutron Source and Applications Driven by Ultra-short Pulse Lasers (Invited)

CHINESE JOURNAL OF LASERS-ZHONGGUO JIGUANG(2024)

China Acad Engn Phys

Cited 0|Views33
Abstract
Significance With the rapid advancement of laser technology, the laser intensity reaches approximately 1022 W/cm2, and charged particles can be accelerated to hundreds of MeV or even several GeV. These energetic particles can trigger nuclear reactions and generate neutrons. Compared with traditional neutron sources, such as reactors, spallation neutrons, and radioactive neutron sources, laser -driven neutron sources (LDNS) have interesting features, such as short duration, which is approximately tens or hundreds of ps, and ultrahigh flux, which is 10(18)-10(21) /(cm(2)center dot s). Moreover, the neutron energy is easy to adjust by manipulating the laser accelerating process. Therefore, studies on LDNS have attracted considerable interest and have shown unique potential for innovative investigations and applications in the past two decades, particularly after the significant progress achieved by Roth et al. in 2013. LDNS is expected to be a powerful alternative to traditional neutron sources and may play an essential role in specific applications, such as the fast neutron resonance radiography and rapid neutron capture. This study briefly reviews the historical development and status of laser -driven neutron sources. Significant attention is given to the recent progress in beam -target neutron sources. Progress First, this study reviews the technical approaches to increase the yield of laser -driven neutron sources, which mainly include nuclear reaction channels and ion acceleration efficiency. Compared with deuterium -deuterium and proton -lithium reactions, deuterium -lithium nuclear reactions result in larger nuclear reaction cross -sections and, thus, have received special attention in this field. After determining the nuclear reaction channel, the improvement of the neutron yield mainly depends on the optimization of the deuterium acceleration efficiency. Various new schemes for eliminating the contamination layer within the target normal sheath acceleration (TNSA) acceleration process, such as target heating, laser cleaning, and heavy water spraying, have been established. The use of advanced acceleration mechanisms, such as break-out afterburner and collisionless shock acceleration, has also been proposed to increase the cut-off energy and charge of deuterium ions, and the neutron yield eventually reaches as high as 1010 /sr (Fig. 2). In addition to yield, neutron directionality is also a critical parameter that influences neutron application. New schemes such as the stripping of D -Li reaction and reverse kinematic effects of heavy ions have also been proposed to generate directional neutron sources. By applying the inverse kinematic effect, the proof -of -principle experiments conducted thus far have achieved a neutron angular distribution with a significant forward impulse and full width at half maximum (FWHM) of 40 degrees (Fig. 6), which is nearly half lower than those of the D -D and D -Li reactions. In addition to optimizing the quality of the laser neutron source, the accurate characterization of laser neutron source parameters is also an integral process of the neutron application. This study introduces the experimental diagnostic methods of laser neutron source yield, angular distribution, energy spectrum, and source size. The analysis method of the pulse width is also explained. The wide range of energy spectrum and ultrashort pulse -width characteristics are suitable for fast -neutron resonance analysis applications based on the time -of -flight method. Finally, this study reviews the application status of laser neutron sources. Current applications mainly focus on traditional application scenarios, such as fast neutron photography, fast neutron moderation, and thermal neutron resonance absorption. However, the high flux and short pulse of laser -driven neutron sources also make them valuable in fast -neutron resonance imaging and rapid neutron capture. Conclusions and Prospects Research on laser neutron sources has aroused significant interest and demonstrates unique potential in terms of innovative research and application prospects. However, because of the limited yield, most of the current application experiments mainly focus on the application scenarios of the traditional neutron source, in which the LDNS does not have unique advantages in terms of neutron fluence. However, with the development of high repetition rate and high average -power laser technology, miniaturized laser neutron sources can gain advantages in terms of economy and flexibility to cope with more complex applications. In addition, because of the nonsubstitutable unique advantages of the short pulse width and high flux rate of LDNS, it also has potentials for new applications, such as fast neutron capture, diagnosis of the state of warm dense matter, and fusion material research. Finally, lasers have advantages in generating various particle sources, which can flexibly satisfy the needs of multiple application scenarios. For example, lasers can simultaneously generate multiple radiation sources, such as electrons, ions, gamma -rays, and neutrons. The unique effects of combining radiation fields can lead to new applications, such as radiography implemented with thermal neutrons and X-rays. Overall, laser-driven neutron sources are expected to be widely used in scientific and industrial fields and can expand more distinctive application scenarios by adopting more stable and efficient neutron generation methods and more accurate neutron -source parameter characterization techniques.
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laser optics,laser ion acceleration,laser driven neutron source,ultra-short pulse laser
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要点】:本文综述了激光驱动中子源的历史发展及其在提高产量和方向性方面的创新技术,并探讨了其在科学研究和工业应用中的前景。

方法】:研究主要采用了核反应通道优化、离子加速效率提升等技术手段。

实验】:实验使用了多种方案来优化激光驱动的中子源产量,如去污染层、目标加热、激光清洗和重水喷雾等,并提出了高级加速机制如突破后燃烧器和无碰撞激波加速。此外,通过反向动力学效应实现了方向性中子源的生成,实验验证了中子角分布具有显著的前向冲量,全宽度在半最大值处为40度。研究还介绍了激光中子源产额、方向性、能谱和源尺寸的实验诊断方法,并解释了脉冲宽度的分析方法。

创新点在于,激光驱动中子源具有短脉冲和高能谱特性,非常适合基于飞行时间法的快中子共振分析应用。目前,虽然主要应用场景仍然是传统的中子摄影、中子慢化和热中子共振吸收,但激光驱动中子源的高通量和短脉冲特性也使其在快中子共振成像和快速中子捕获方面具有价值。未来,随着高重复率和高平均功率激光技术的发展,小型化的激光中子源将在经济和灵活性方面具有优势,以应对更复杂的应用场景。同时,由于LDNS在短脉冲宽度和高通率方面的独特优势,其在快中子捕获、 warm dense matter 状态诊断和聚变材料研究等方面也有潜力。最后,激光在生成各种粒子源方面具有优势,可以灵活满足多种应用场景的需求。例如,激光可以同时生成多种辐射源,如电子、离子、伽马射线和中子。结合辐射场的独特效果可能导致新的应用,如热中子和X射线共同实施的成像技术。