Related papers: A Femtosecond Neutron Source
We propose to produce neutron-rich nuclei in the range of the astrophysical r-process around the waiting point N=126 by fissioning a dense laser-accelerated thorium ion bunch in a thorium target (covered by a CH2 layer), where the light…
We present the experimental results on ion acceleration by petawatt femtosecond laser solid interaction and explore strategies to enhance ion energy. The irradiation of micrometer thick (0.2 - 6.0 micron) Al foils with a virtually…
A time resolved experiment to investigate the ultrafast dynamics following an ion impact onto a solid surface requires an ultrashort ion pump pulse in combination with a properly synchronized and time resolved probe. In order to realize…
Thermonuclear flashes of hydrogen and helium accreted onto neutron stars produce the frequently observed Type I X-ray bursts. It is the current paradigm that almost all material burns in a burst, after which it takes hours to accumulate…
We show that a field emission tip electron source that is triggered with a femtosecond laser pulse can generate electron pulses shorter than the laser pulse duration (~100 fs). The emission process is sensitive to a power law of the laser…
A novel scheme for generating powerful terahertz (THz) radiation based on laser-solid interactions is proposed. When a $p$-polarized femtosecond laser impinges obliquely on a plane solid target and the target partially blocks the laser…
Ultracold neutrons provide a unique tool for the study of neutron properties. An overview is given of the ultracold neutron (UCN) source at PSI, which produces the highest UCN intensities to fundamental physics experiments by exploiting the…
We discuss electron-positron pair-production by super-intense, short laser pulses off the physical vacuum state locally deformed by (stripped) nuclei with large nuclear charges. Consequences of non-perturbative vacuum polarisation resulting…
The proposal of generating high quality electron bunches via ionization injection triggered by an counter propagating laser pulse inside a beam driven plasma wake is examined via two-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations. It is shown…
The production of intense neutron beams via thermonuclear reactions in laser-generated plasmas is investigated theoretically. So far, state-of-the-art neutron beams are produced via laser-induced particle acceleration leading to high-energy…
In this work, we will show through three-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations that direct laser acceleration in laser a wakefield accelerator can generate sub-femtosecond electron bunches. Two simulations were done with two laser pulse…
Laser-driven neutron sources offer ultrashort pulse durations and extreme peak fluxes inaccessible to conventional facilities, enabling novel time-of-flight(TOF) spectroscopy and nuclear astrophysics measurements. We present the first…
We put forward a novel method for producing ultrarelativistic high-density high-polarization positrons through a single-shot interaction of a strong laser with a tilted solid foil. In our method, the driving laser ionizes the target, and…
Laser-driven, high-brilliance secondary sources (electrons, ions, neutrons, X-rays) open new perspectives for compact material probing and imaging of high-speed events. A key advantage is their ability to perform multiplexed probing, as…
The neutron yields observed in inertial confinement fusion experiments for higher convergence ratios are about two orders of magnitude smaller than the neutron yields predicted by one-dimensional models, the discrepancy being attributed to…
We experimentally investigate generation of molecular nitrogen-ion lasers with two femtosecond laser pulses at different wavelengths. The first pulse serves as the pump which ionizes the nitrogen molecules and excites the molecular ions to…
We consider scattering of a photon on a short intense laser pulse at high energy. We argue that for ultra-short laser pulses the interaction is coherent over the entire length of the pulse. At low pulse intensity $I$ the total cross section…
The cross sections of high energy neutron-induced spallation is useful for studying the transmutation of long-life fission products. However, due to the difficulty of obtaining high-energy neutrons, the experimental data are still scarce.…
Using high-resolution, two-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations, we investigate numerically the mechanisms of terahertz (THz) emissions in submicron-thick carbon solid foils driven by ultraintense ($\sim 10^{20}\,\rm W\,cm^{-2}$),…
In many X-ray point sources on the sky, the X-ray emission arises because hydrogen and/or helium is accreted onto a neutron star from a nearby donor star. When this matter settles on the neutron star surface, it will undergo nuclear fusion.…