1. Quasi-monoenergetic ion acceleration and neutron generation from laser-driven transverse collisionless shocks.
- Author
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Kordell, P., Zulick, C., Hussein, A. E., Arefiev, A. V., Batson, T., Cobble, J., Glebov, V., Haberberger, D., Stoeckl, C., Nilson, P. M., Krushelnick, K., and Willingale, L.
- Subjects
DEUTERIUM plasma ,FAST neutrons ,IONS spectra ,NEUTRONS ,IONS - Abstract
Experiments using the OMEGA EP laser system were performed to study collisionless shock acceleration of ions driven by the interaction of a relativistically intense laser pulse with underdense plasma. The energy spectrum of accelerated ions in the direction transverse to laser propagation is measured to have several narrow-band peaks which are quasi-monoenergetic with a typical energy bandwidth of 3%. In deuterium plasmas, these ions generate a significant number of fast fusion neutrons. Particle-in-cell simulations confirm that these ions were accelerated by the interaction of transverse shocks and that the appearance of quasi-monoenergetic spectral features depends on the growth of an ion-electron two-stream instability during the interaction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2024
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