Demonstration of laser-produced neutron diagnostic by radiative capture gamma-rays

Zhang, Xiaopeng and Wei, Wenqing and Fu, Changbo and Yuan, Xiaohui and An, Songhai and Deng, Yanqing and Fang, Yuan and Gao, Jian and Ge, Xulei and Guo, Bing and He, Chuangye and Hu, Peng and Hua, Neng and Jiang, Weiman and Li, Liang and Li, Mengting and Li, Yifei and Li, Yutong and Liao, Guoqiang and Liu, Feng and Liu, Longxiang and Wang, Hongwei and Yang, Pengqian and Yang, Su and Yang, Tao and Zhang, Guoqiang and Zhang, Yue and Zhu, Baoqiang and Xi, Xiaofeng and Zhu, Jianqiang and Sheng, Zhengming and Zhang, Jie (2018) Demonstration of laser-produced neutron diagnostic by radiative capture gamma-rays. Review of Scientific Instruments. ISSN 1089-7623 (In Press)

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Abstract

We report a new scenario of time-of-flight (TOF) technique in which fast neutrons and delayed gamma-ray signals were both recorded in a millisecond time window in harsh environments induced by high-intensity lasers. The delayed gamma signals, arriving far later than the original fast neutron and often being ignored previously, were identified to be the results of radiative captures of thermalized neutrons. The linear correlation between gamma photon number and the fast neutron yield shows that these delayed gamma events can be employed for neutron diagnosis. This method can reduce the detecting efficiency dropping problem caused by prompt high-flux gamma radiation, and provides a new way for neutron diagnosing in high-intensity laser-target interaction experiments.