Neutron Production from In-situ Heavy Ice Coated Targets at Vulcan
ORAL
Abstract
Laser based neutron production experiments have been performed utilizing ultra-high intensity laser accelerated ions impinging upon a secondary target. The neutron yield from such experiments may be improved if the accelerated ions were primarily deuterons taking advantage of the d-d cross section. Recent experiments have demonstrated that selective deuteron acceleration from in-situ heavy ice coating of targets can produce ion spectra where deuterons comprise $> 99\%$ of the measured ions. Results will be presented from integrated neutron production experiments from heavy ice targets coated in-situ recently performed on the Vulcan laser at Rutherford Appleton Laboratory.
*We are grateful for the Staff at RAL and acknowledge funding from the US DoE. AFOSR, European Social Fund, and the Czech Republic.
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