Using ion beam analysis to perform depth profiling in targets used for TSNA

Currently, radiation safety considerations prevent existing accelerator facilities from producing triton beams. However, tritium-induced nuclear reactions are of high interest, such as T(t,2n)α for nuclear fusion applications, and ⁷Li(t,p)⁹Li for nuclear astrophysics and nuclear structure applications. There is interest in producing energetic triton beams via the target normal sheath acceleration (TNSA) mechanism by irradiating tritium-doped metal foils with ultra-intense laser radiation. Effective acceleration of tritons by TNSA requires a high tritium concentration on the surface of the target. Prior to working directly with tritium, deuterium is being used as a surrogate to produce energetic deuteron beams by TNSA. We are studying the feasibility of using ion beam analysis to perform depth profiling in which the concentration of deuterium is measured as a function of depth in the target. Targets fabricated for use at the University of Rochester Laboratory for Laser Energetics (LLE) are analyzed using ion beams from the SUNY Geneseo 1.7 MV Pelletron accelerator. The targets are mounted in the scattering chamber, and an energetic deuteron beam from the accelerator is incident on the target. A silicon surface barrier detector is used to measure the energy spectrum of the backscattered deuterons and reaction products. Detailed analysis of the energy spectrum of the protons produced in the D(d,p)T fusion reactions can be used to infer the deuterium depth profile. Initial results will be presented.