Laser Wakefield Acceleration of High-Quality Electron Beams to 300 MeV and Efficient Initiation of Photonuclear Reactions

Journal Article · Mon Nov 27 04:00:00 EST 2006 · AIP Conference Proceedings

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.2409214· OSTI ID:20898754

Reed, S A; Naumova, N; Bulanov, S S; Chvykov, V; Hou, B; Kalintchenko, G; Matsuoka, T; Rousseau, P; Yanovsky, V; Maksimchuk, A ^[1]; Vane, C R; Beene, J R; Schultz, D R; Stracener, D W ^[2]

---

1. FOCUS Center, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109 (United States)
2. Physics Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, Tennessee 37831 (United States)

By focusing 40-TW, 30-fs laser pulses to the intensity of 1019 W/cm2 onto a supersonic He gas jet, we generated quasi-monoenergetic electron beams for plasma density in the narrow range of 1.5{<=} ne {<=}3x1019 cm3. We show that the energy, charge, divergence and pointing stability of the beam vary sensitively with ne within this range. The observed variations can be explained physically by the interplay among pump depletion and dephasing between accelerated electrons and plasma wave. An optimized quasi-monoenergetic beam of over 300 MeV and 10 mrad angular divergence is demonstrated at a plasma density of ne{approx}1.5x1019 cm3. The quasi-monoenergeic electron beams with energy of 100-150 MeV and charge of 0.5 nC have been used to perform {gamma}-nuclear photofission of natural uranium targets. Through bremsstrahlung emission, such electron beams are well suited for the efficient generation of high energy (tens of MeV) {gamma}-rays necessary to induce photofission reactions. Quantitative {gamma}-ray spectroscopy of the irradiated U sample shows that more than {approx}105 photonuclear reactions have been produced per Joule of laser energy, which is 10 to 50 times higher than in a previously reported experiments.

• OSTI ID: 20898754
• Journal Information: AIP Conference Proceedings, Journal Name: AIP Conference Proceedings Journal Issue: 1 Vol. 877; ISSN APCPCS; ISSN 0094-243X
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY
ACCELERATION
BREMSSTRAHLUNG
ELECTRON BEAMS
FOCUSING
GAMMA RADIATION
GAMMA SPECTROSCOPY
LASERS
MEV RANGE 100-1000
PHOTOFISSION
PHOTON-NUCLEON INTERACTIONS
PLASMA DENSITY
PLASMA HEATING
PLASMA WAVES
PULSES
URANIUM 238 TARGET
WAKEFIELD ACCELERATORS