Neutron Generation by Laser-Driven Photonuclear Reaction

Abstract

It has been demonstrated that laser-driven high-energy x-ray source could be an approvable candidate for a neutron source with flat energy spectrum. A gold disk target was irradiated by a kJ pulse from the high power laser system (LFEX) at Osaka University to show the neutron generation of 8 × 108. Generation of high energy x-ray component with higher temperature necessary for neutron generation via photonuclear reaction is attributed to interaction of laser with the long scale preformed plasma.