New article: New laser technique improves neutron yield read more at here http://www.spinonews.com/index.php/science/item/3344-new-laser-technique-improves-neutron-yield

Researchers have developed a new way to produce neutrons that they claim improves on conventional methods by a factor of 100.

Neutrons are used for a variety of purposes, including academic pursuits and real-world applications such as underground mineral resource location. For that reason, scientists continue to look for new and better sources.

Currently, lasers are fired at hydrogen isotope clusters, which cause them to be ionized and to collide, resulting in fusion reactions that release neutrons. Unfortunately, this approach and others are not very efficient.

In this new effort, the researchers have taken a new approach to using lasers to produce neutrons applying the force from the inside rather than the outside.

 

 

[An optical micro-oscillator could lead to next-generation timing, navigation and sensing applications]

 

In the new method, a laser is used to heat a deuterium capsule, which fuses deuterium nuclei pairs, resulting in neutron emissions. The method is a form of inertial confinement fusion, but the instability inherent in other techniques has been improved by using spherically convergent plasma fusion.

In this method, the researchers used a spherical capsule covered with a thin layer of gold the capsule had an inside coating of polystyrene containing an amount of deuterium.

The researchers then cut tiny holes in the coating and fired lasers through them, allowing the beams to strike inside the capsule, instigating a fusion reaction and emittance of neutrons. The team used 2 ns 6.3 kJ laser pulses to test their method, and report that they were able to produce approximately 1 billion neutrons for each pulse, which they claim is approximately 100 times better than other methods.

 

The team also suggests that if the target used were deuterium and tritium, it might be possible to boost output by a factor of 1000. They further suggest it might be possible to scale up their method to produce even greater amounts of the subatomic particles.