Abstract
Recently, increasing interest has been focused on the neutron generation by high intensity laser.
Especially in this review, we summarize experimental studies on the neutron generation based on
“Pitcher-Cather” method, where ions are accelerated by the laser from a thin foil (Pitcher) up to MeVenergy
and bombards some materials (Catcher) that generates neutrons via nuclear reactions. We
demonstrate a semi-empirical scaling low found on the neutron generation efficiency as a function of the
laser intensity, independently of the parameters of Pitcher and Catcher.
