Laser-driven neutron generation realizing single-shot resonance spectroscopy

A. Yogo; Z. Lan; Y. Arikawa; Y. Abe; S. R. Mirfayzi; T. Wei; T. Mori; D. Golovin; T. Hayakawa; N. Iwata; S. Fujioka; M. Nakai; Y. Sentoku; K. Mima; M. Murakami; M. Koizumi; F. Ito; J. Lee; T. Takahashi; K. Hironaka; S. Kar; H. Nishimura; R. Kodama

doi:10.1103/PhysRevX.13.011011

Laser-driven neutron generation realizing single-shot resonance spectroscopy

A. Yogo, Z. Lan, Y. Arikawa, Y. Abe, S. R. Mirfayzi, T. Wei, T. Mori, D. Golovin, T. Hayakawa, N. Iwata, S. Fujioka, M. Nakai, Y. Sentoku, K. Mima, M. Murakami, M. Koizumi, F. Ito, J. Lee, T. Takahashi, K. HironakaS. Kar, H. Nishimura, R. Kodama

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Abstract

Neutrons are powerful tools for investigating the structure and properties of materials used in science and technology. Recently, laser-driven neutron sources (LDNS) have attracted the attention of different communities, from science to industry, in a variety of applications, including radiography, spectroscopy, security, and medicine. However, the laser-driven ion acceleration mechanism for neutron generation and for establishing the scaling law on the neutron yield is essential to improve the feasibility of LDNS. In this paper, we report the mechanism that accelerates ions with spectra suitable for neutron generation. We show that the neutron yield increases with the fourth power of the laser intensity, resulting in the neutron generation of 3×1011 in 4π at a maximum, with 1.1×1019 W cm−2, 900 J, 1.5 ps lasers. By installing a “hand-size” moderator, which is specially designed for the LDNS, it is demonstrated that the efficient generation of epithermal (0.1–100 eV) neutrons enables the single-shot analysis of composite materials by neutron resonance transmission analysis (NRTA). We achieve the energy resolution of 2.3% for 5.19-eV neutrons 1.8 m downstream of the LDNS. This leads to the analysis of elements and isotopes within sub-μs times and allows for high-speed nondestructive inspection.

Original language	English
Article number	011011
Journal	Physical Review X
Volume	13
Issue number	1
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevX.13.011011 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevX.13.011011
Publication status	Published - 31 Jan 2023

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
This work was funded by Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (No. 25420911, No. 26246043, and No. 22H02007) of MEXT, A-STEP (AS2721002c), and PRESTO (JPMJPR15PD) commissioned by JST. The authors thank the technical support staff of ILE for their assistance with the laser operation, target fabrication, and plasma diagnostics. This work was supported by the Collaboration Research Program of ILE, Osaka University. The collaboration of the J. A. E. A. was supported by the subsidy of the MEXT for nuclear security promotion. A. Y. deeply appreciates useful suggestions from Professor Kiyanagi of Nagoya University and Professors Kamiyama and Sato of Hokkaido University on the estimation of the neutron generation and moderation, Dr. M. Kanasaki and Professor K. Oda of Kobe University on the evaluation of neutron yield, and Professor I. Murata of Osaka University on the detector calibration using his Am-Be neutron source. A. Y. gratefully appreciates suggestions from the committee on “Laser-driven Neutron Source” commissioned by the Laser Society of Japan. A. Y. also appreciates fruitful discussions with the members of a consultancy meeting on “Advances in Laser-driven Neutron and X-ray Sources” commissioned by IAEA.

Publisher Copyright:
© 2023 authors. Published by the American Physical Society.

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Physics and Astronomy(all)

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Laser-driven neutron generation realizing single-shot resonance spectroscopy
Copyright 2023 the authors. This is an open access article published under a Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the author and source are cited.
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Yogo, A., Lan, Z., Arikawa, Y., Abe, Y., Mirfayzi, S. R., Wei, T., Mori, T., Golovin, D., Hayakawa, T., Iwata, N., Fujioka, S., Nakai, M., Sentoku, Y., Mima, K., Murakami, M., Koizumi, M., Ito, F., Lee, J., Takahashi, T., ... Kodama, R. (2023). Laser-driven neutron generation realizing single-shot resonance spectroscopy. Physical Review X, 13(1), [011011]. https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevX.13.011011, https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevX.13.011011

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title = "Laser-driven neutron generation realizing single-shot resonance spectroscopy",

abstract = "Neutrons are powerful tools for investigating the structure and properties of materials used in science and technology. Recently, laser-driven neutron sources (LDNS) have attracted the attention of different communities, from science to industry, in a variety of applications, including radiography, spectroscopy, security, and medicine. However, the laser-driven ion acceleration mechanism for neutron generation and for establishing the scaling law on the neutron yield is essential to improve the feasibility of LDNS. In this paper, we report the mechanism that accelerates ions with spectra suitable for neutron generation. We show that the neutron yield increases with the fourth power of the laser intensity, resulting in the neutron generation of 3×1011 in 4π at a maximum, with 1.1×1019 W cm−2, 900 J, 1.5 ps lasers. By installing a “hand-size” moderator, which is specially designed for the LDNS, it is demonstrated that the efficient generation of epithermal (0.1–100 eV) neutrons enables the single-shot analysis of composite materials by neutron resonance transmission analysis (NRTA). We achieve the energy resolution of 2.3% for 5.19-eV neutrons 1.8 m downstream of the LDNS. This leads to the analysis of elements and isotopes within sub-μs times and allows for high-speed nondestructive inspection.",

author = "A. Yogo and Z. Lan and Y. Arikawa and Y. Abe and Mirfayzi, {S. R.} and T. Wei and T. Mori and D. Golovin and T. Hayakawa and N. Iwata and S. Fujioka and M. Nakai and Y. Sentoku and K. Mima and M. Murakami and M. Koizumi and F. Ito and J. Lee and T. Takahashi and K. Hironaka and S. Kar and H. Nishimura and R. Kodama",

note = "Funding Information: This work was funded by Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (No. 25420911, No. 26246043, and No. 22H02007) of MEXT, A-STEP (AS2721002c), and PRESTO (JPMJPR15PD) commissioned by JST. The authors thank the technical support staff of ILE for their assistance with the laser operation, target fabrication, and plasma diagnostics. This work was supported by the Collaboration Research Program of ILE, Osaka University. The collaboration of the J. A. E. A. was supported by the subsidy of the MEXT for nuclear security promotion. A. Y. deeply appreciates useful suggestions from Professor Kiyanagi of Nagoya University and Professors Kamiyama and Sato of Hokkaido University on the estimation of the neutron generation and moderation, Dr. M. Kanasaki and Professor K. Oda of Kobe University on the evaluation of neutron yield, and Professor I. Murata of Osaka University on the detector calibration using his Am-Be neutron source. A. Y. gratefully appreciates suggestions from the committee on “Laser-driven Neutron Source” commissioned by the Laser Society of Japan. A. Y. also appreciates fruitful discussions with the members of a consultancy meeting on “Advances in Laser-driven Neutron and X-ray Sources” commissioned by IAEA. Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2023 authors. Published by the American Physical Society.",

year = "2023",

month = jan,

day = "31",

doi = "10.1103/PhysRevX.13.011011",

language = "English",

volume = "13",

journal = "Physical Review X",

issn = "2160-3308",

publisher = "American Physical Society",

number = "1",

}

Yogo, A, Lan, Z, Arikawa, Y, Abe, Y, Mirfayzi, SR, Wei, T, Mori, T, Golovin, D, Hayakawa, T, Iwata, N, Fujioka, S, Nakai, M, Sentoku, Y, Mima, K, Murakami, M, Koizumi, M, Ito, F, Lee, J, Takahashi, T, Hironaka, K, Kar, S, Nishimura, H & Kodama, R 2023, 'Laser-driven neutron generation realizing single-shot resonance spectroscopy', Physical Review X, vol. 13, no. 1, 011011. https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevX.13.011011, https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevX.13.011011

TY - JOUR

T1 - Laser-driven neutron generation realizing single-shot resonance spectroscopy

AU - Yogo, A.

AU - Lan, Z.

AU - Arikawa, Y.

AU - Abe, Y.

AU - Mirfayzi, S. R.

AU - Wei, T.

AU - Mori, T.

AU - Golovin, D.

AU - Hayakawa, T.

AU - Iwata, N.

AU - Fujioka, S.

AU - Nakai, M.

AU - Sentoku, Y.

AU - Mima, K.

AU - Murakami, M.

AU - Koizumi, M.

AU - Ito, F.

AU - Lee, J.

AU - Takahashi, T.

AU - Hironaka, K.

AU - Kar, S.

AU - Nishimura, H.

AU - Kodama, R.

N1 - Funding Information: This work was funded by Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (No. 25420911, No. 26246043, and No. 22H02007) of MEXT, A-STEP (AS2721002c), and PRESTO (JPMJPR15PD) commissioned by JST. The authors thank the technical support staff of ILE for their assistance with the laser operation, target fabrication, and plasma diagnostics. This work was supported by the Collaboration Research Program of ILE, Osaka University. The collaboration of the J. A. E. A. was supported by the subsidy of the MEXT for nuclear security promotion. A. Y. deeply appreciates useful suggestions from Professor Kiyanagi of Nagoya University and Professors Kamiyama and Sato of Hokkaido University on the estimation of the neutron generation and moderation, Dr. M. Kanasaki and Professor K. Oda of Kobe University on the evaluation of neutron yield, and Professor I. Murata of Osaka University on the detector calibration using his Am-Be neutron source. A. Y. gratefully appreciates suggestions from the committee on “Laser-driven Neutron Source” commissioned by the Laser Society of Japan. A. Y. also appreciates fruitful discussions with the members of a consultancy meeting on “Advances in Laser-driven Neutron and X-ray Sources” commissioned by IAEA. Publisher Copyright: © 2023 authors. Published by the American Physical Society.

PY - 2023/1/31

Y1 - 2023/1/31

N2 - Neutrons are powerful tools for investigating the structure and properties of materials used in science and technology. Recently, laser-driven neutron sources (LDNS) have attracted the attention of different communities, from science to industry, in a variety of applications, including radiography, spectroscopy, security, and medicine. However, the laser-driven ion acceleration mechanism for neutron generation and for establishing the scaling law on the neutron yield is essential to improve the feasibility of LDNS. In this paper, we report the mechanism that accelerates ions with spectra suitable for neutron generation. We show that the neutron yield increases with the fourth power of the laser intensity, resulting in the neutron generation of 3×1011 in 4π at a maximum, with 1.1×1019 W cm−2, 900 J, 1.5 ps lasers. By installing a “hand-size” moderator, which is specially designed for the LDNS, it is demonstrated that the efficient generation of epithermal (0.1–100 eV) neutrons enables the single-shot analysis of composite materials by neutron resonance transmission analysis (NRTA). We achieve the energy resolution of 2.3% for 5.19-eV neutrons 1.8 m downstream of the LDNS. This leads to the analysis of elements and isotopes within sub-μs times and allows for high-speed nondestructive inspection.

AB - Neutrons are powerful tools for investigating the structure and properties of materials used in science and technology. Recently, laser-driven neutron sources (LDNS) have attracted the attention of different communities, from science to industry, in a variety of applications, including radiography, spectroscopy, security, and medicine. However, the laser-driven ion acceleration mechanism for neutron generation and for establishing the scaling law on the neutron yield is essential to improve the feasibility of LDNS. In this paper, we report the mechanism that accelerates ions with spectra suitable for neutron generation. We show that the neutron yield increases with the fourth power of the laser intensity, resulting in the neutron generation of 3×1011 in 4π at a maximum, with 1.1×1019 W cm−2, 900 J, 1.5 ps lasers. By installing a “hand-size” moderator, which is specially designed for the LDNS, it is demonstrated that the efficient generation of epithermal (0.1–100 eV) neutrons enables the single-shot analysis of composite materials by neutron resonance transmission analysis (NRTA). We achieve the energy resolution of 2.3% for 5.19-eV neutrons 1.8 m downstream of the LDNS. This leads to the analysis of elements and isotopes within sub-μs times and allows for high-speed nondestructive inspection.

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U2 - 10.1103/PhysRevX.13.011011

DO - 10.1103/PhysRevX.13.011011

M3 - Article

VL - 13

JO - Physical Review X

JF - Physical Review X

SN - 2160-3308

IS - 1

M1 - 011011

ER -

Laser-driven neutron generation realizing single-shot resonance spectroscopy

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