Radio-isotope production using laser Wakefield accelerators
A 10 Hz, 10 TW solid state laser system has been used to produce electron beams suitable for radio-isotope production. The laser beam was focused using a 30 cm focal length f/6 off-axis parabola on a gas plume produced by a high pressure pulsed gas jet. Electrons were trapped and accelerated by high gradient wakefields excited in the ionized gas through the self-modulated laser wakefield instability. The electron beam was measured to contain excesses of 5 nC/bunch. A composite Pb/Cu target was used to convert the electron beam into gamma rays which subsequently produced radio-isotopes through (gamma, n) reactions. Isotope identification through gamma-ray spectroscopy and half-life time measurements demonstrated that Cu{sup 61} was produced which indicates that 20-25 MeV gamma rays were produced, and hence electrons with energies greater than 25-30 MeV. The production of high energy electrons was independently confirmed using a bending magnet spectrometer. The measured spectra had an exponential distribution with a 3 MeV width. The amount of activation was on the order of 2.5 uCi after 3 hours of operation at 1 Hz. Future experiments will aim at increasing this yield by post-accelerating the electron beam using a channel guided laser wakefield accelerator.
- Research Organization:
- Ernest Orlando Lawrence Berkeley National Lab., CA (US)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE Director, Office of Science. Office of High Energy and Nuclear Physics. Division of High Energy Physics (US)
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC03-76SF00098
- OSTI ID:
- 793799
- Report Number(s):
- LBNL-49862; CBP Note-418; R&D Project: 455401; TRN: US0201055
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: 2001 Particle Accelerator Conference, Chicago, IL (US), 06/18/2001--06/22/2001; Other Information: PBD: 27 Jul 2001
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
Similar Records
Laser Wakefield Acceleration of High-Quality Electron Beams to 300 MeV and Efficient Initiation of Photonuclear Reactions
Quasimonoenergetic electron beam generation by using a pinholelike collimator in a self-modulated laser wakefield acceleration