https://doi.org/10.1140/epjp/s13360-024-05679-x
Regular Article
A comprehensive characterization of the neutron fields produced by the Apollon petawatt laser
1
LULI - CNRS, CEA, Sorbonne Université, Ecole Polytechnique, Institut Polytechnique de Paris, F-91128, Palaiseau Cedex, France
2
Laboratoire de micro-irradiation, de métrologie et de dosimétrie des neutrons, PSE-Santé/SDOS, IRSN, 13115, Saint-Paul-Lez-Durance, France
3
Sorbonne Université, Observatoire de Paris, Université PSL, CNRS, LERMA, F-75005, Paris, France
4
The School of Physics and Astronomy, Tel Aviv University, 6997801, Tel-Aviv, Israel
5
INRS-EMT, 1650 Boul. Lionel-Boulet, Varennes, J3X 1P7, Quebec, Canada
6
Physics department, NRCN, PO Box 9001, Beer-Sheva, Israel
7
LANL, PO Box 1663, 87545, Los Alamos, NM, USA
8
Laboratoire de dosimétrie des rayonnements ionisants, PSE-Santé/SDOS, IRSN, 92262, Fontenay-aux-Roses, France
9
Institute for Nuclear Physics, Technische Universität Darmstadt, Schlossgartenstr. 9, 64289, Darmstadt, Germany
10
Extreme Light Infrastructure-Nuclear Physics (ELI-NP)/Horia Hulubei National Institute for Physics and Nuclear Engineering (IFIN-HH), Str. Reactorului 30, 077125, Bucharest-Măgurele, Romania
a
ronan.lelievre@polytechnique.edu
Received:
1
December
2023
Accepted:
21
September
2024
Published online:
28
November
2024
Since two decades, laser-driven neutron emissions are studied as they represent a complementary source to conventional neutron sources, with further more different characteristics (i.e. shorter bunch duration and higher number of neutrons per bunch). We report here a global, thorough characterization of the neutron fields produced at the Apollon laser facility using the secondary laser beam (F2). A double plasma mirror (DPM) was used to improve the temporal contrast of the laser which delivers pulses of 24 fs duration, a mean on-target energy of 
10 J and up to 1 shot/min. The interaction of the laser with thin targets (few tens or hundreds of nm) in ultrahigh conditions produced enhanced proton beams (up to 35 MeV), which were then used to generate neutrons via the pitcher-catcher technique. The characterization of these neutron emissions is presented, with results obtained from both simulations and measurements using several diagnostics (activation samples, bubble detectors and Time-of-Flight detectors), leading to a neutron yield of 
. Similar neutron emissions were observed during shots with and without DPM, while fewer X-rays are produced when the DPM is used, making this tool interesting to adjust the neutrons/X-rays ratio for some applications like combined neutron/X-ray radiography.
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© The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Società Italiana di Fisica and Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature 2024. Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.
