A TNSA Technique to Measure Light-Ion Cross Sections Using the MTW Laser
Loading...
Date
2023-11-03
Authors
Lei, Chunsun
Harley, Noah
Hotchkiss, Andrew
Martin, Andrew
Yuly, Mark
Padalino, Stephen J.
Forrest, Chad J.
Sangster, Thomas C.
Regan, Sean P.
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Houghton University
Abstract
An experiment was performed using the Multi-Terawatt Laser (MTW) at the Laboratory for Laser Energetics (LLE) to test the feasibility of using Target Normal Sheath Acceleration (TNSA) to measure 0.1 - 10 MeV light-ion cross sections. Laser pulses (∼22 J, 7 ps) struck a 0.25 mm2 deuterated polyethylene (CD2) target, ejecting TNSA deuterons that hit a thin natural Li target film on a 25 μm thick stainless-steel substrate, causing the 7Li(d,p)8Li reaction. The phoswich scintillator, light guide, and photomultiplier tube of the Short-Lived Isotope Counting System (SLICS) were placed immediately behind the Li target, and a CAEN Digitizer was used to count the 840 ms half-life beta decay of 8Li, beginning a few milliseconds after the laser shot. The phoswich detector consisted of a fast thin and slow thick scintillator sandwiched together to allow incident particles to be identified by their different rates of energy loss. Incident deuteron energy spectra were measured using time-of-flight (TOF) to a small scintillator in front of the Li target and, for comparison, with a Thompson parabola spectrometer. Funded in part by a grant from the DOE through the Laboratory for Laser Energetics, and by SUNY Geneseo and Houghton University.
Description
Event
65th Annual Meeting of the APS Division of Plasma Physics, Denver, CO, October 30 – November 3, 2023.
Keywords
Student Projects