Generation of energetic (>15 MeV) neutron beams from proton- and deuteron-driven nuclear reactions using short pulse lasers

A roadmap is proposed for the production of high-energy (>15 MeV) neutrons using short pulse lasers. Different approaches are suggested for the two limiting cases of small (E-1 << Q) and large (E-1 >> Q) projectile energies E-1 depending on the Q-value of the nuclear reaction. The neutron fluence from many converter materials is evaluated for two projectiles: protons and deuterons. We found profound differences between proton- and deuteron-driven reactions with regard to both converter material and generated neutron fluence. The optimum converter material for deuteron-driven reactions is low-Z elements such as Li and Be, while for proton- driven reactions the converter material is not critical. For a projectile energy of 50 MeV the deuteron-driven reactions are two orders of magnitude more efficient compared to the proton- driven reactions. Two-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations have been performed for laser pulses with peak intensity 3 x 10(20) W cm(-2), pulse duration 40 fs, spot size 5 mu m and energy 3 J interacting with ultrathin (0.1 mu m) CD foil. The calculated deuteron beam is highly directional along the laser propagation direction with maximum energy of 45 MeV. The interaction of the deuteron beam with a lithium converter and the production of neutrons is modeled using a Monte Carlo code. The computed neutron spectra show that a forward directed neutron beam is generated with an opening angle of similar to 1 sr, maximum energy of 60 MeV and a fluence in the forward direction 1.8 x 10(8) n sr(-1), similar to 20 % of which are with energy above 15 MeV.