Laser-driven pulsed neutrons for detection of nuclear material

At Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), we have pioneered a short duration yet extremely intense neutron source using a short-pulse laser. At the Trident laser facility, one of the most intense and powerful short-pulse lasers in the world, a laser beam can be concentrated to peak intensity up to 10²¹ W/cm². The beam, interacting with an ultrathin (sub-micron) deuterated plastic foil target, drives a high-energy deuteron beam, which produces neutrons in a beryllium converter. This neutron source features high intensity and directionality, >10¹⁰ fast neutrons per sr per shot, with extremely short neutron pulse duration i.e. on the order of a few nanoseconds. One of the motivations for such a source is the capability to perform nondesctructive assay of special nuclear material for nuclear material accountancy, nuclear safeguards and national security applications. Dedicated experimental campaigns were conducted at LANL to investigate the merits and applicability of such an approach to active interrogation of uranium and plutonium materials. Results of these measurements have provided the first of a kind experimental demonstration of active interrogation using high-intensity laser-driven neutron source and demonstrate feasibility of interrogation using a single laser-driven neutron pulse. Presentation will report on laser-plasma acceleration of ions, and subsequent neutron productions, and active interrogation of nuclear material. The experimental results obtained will be presented and discussed.