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Selective Deuteron Acceleration using Target Normal Sheath Acceleration

Morrison, John T.
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1365523293

Abstract Details

2013, Doctor of Philosophy, Ohio State University, Physics.
It has been known for more than a decade that surface contaminants from a thin foil will be accelerated to multi-MeV energies after irradiation with an ultra-intense laser. The versatility of an ion beam for the generation of neutrons can be improved by tailoring which ions are accelerated. Nominally, the dominant species accelerated is the lightest present on a target surface typically contaminated with hydrocarbons and water: protons. This work elucidates a method of in-situ cryogenic coating of heavy ice on ultra-intense laser targets and experimental confirmation of the dominant acceleration of ~MeV deuterons. 1D pseudo-Lagrangian calculations investigating the initial stages of ion acceleration with various levels of surface contamination are also presented. The first successful demonstration of selective deuteron acceleration by target normal sheath acceleration (TNSA), in which the normally dominant contaminant proton and carbon ion signals are suppressed by orders of magnitude relative to the deuteron signals is reported. Using a laser pulse with 0.5 J, 120 fs duration, and ~5 x 1018 W/cm2 mean intensity, the deuterons originating from a surface layer of heavy ice with energies up to 3.5 MeV comprised > 99% of the recorded ion signal. The design, calibration, and implementation of a Thomson parabola spectrometer (TPS) to measure the target normal ion spectra is presented. In addition to estimations of the target coating and contamination rates, the effect of contamination thickness is modeled presented. Analytic calculations predicting characteristics of various neutron sources utilizing this deuteron source are presented.
Linn Van Woerkom (Advisor)
Richard Freeman (Committee Member)
Richard Furnstahl (Committee Member)
Douglass Schumacher (Committee Member)
Optics; Physics; Radiation
laser; ion; acceleration; deuteron; deuterium; high energy density; expansion; plasma

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Morrison, J. T. (2013). Selective Deuteron Acceleration using Target Normal Sheath Acceleration [Doctoral dissertation, Ohio State University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1365523293

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Morrison, John. Selective Deuteron Acceleration using Target Normal Sheath Acceleration. 2013. Ohio State University, Doctoral dissertation. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1365523293.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Morrison, John. "Selective Deuteron Acceleration using Target Normal Sheath Acceleration." Doctoral dissertation, Ohio State University, 2013. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1365523293

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

osu1365523293
1,820
© 2013, some rights reserved.Creative Commons License Selective Deuteron Acceleration using Target Normal Sheath Acceleration by John T. Morrison is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. Based on a work at etd.ohiolink.edu.
This open access ETD is published by The Ohio State University and OhioLINK.