- Higginson, DP;
- Lelièvre, R;
- Vassura, L;
- Gugiu, MM;
- Borghesi, M;
- Bernstein, LA;
- Bleuel, DL;
- Goldblum, BL;
- Green, A;
- Hannachi, F;
- Kar, S;
- Kisyov, S;
- Quentin, L;
- Schroer, M;
- Tarisien, M;
- Willi, O;
- Antici, P;
- Negoita, F;
- Allaoua, A;
- Fuchs, J
Laser-driven neutron sources are routinely produced by the interaction of laser-accelerated protons with a converter. They present complementary characteristics to those of conventional accelerator-based neutron sources (e.g. short pulse durations, enabling novel applications like radiography). We present here results from an experiment aimed at performing a global characterization of the neutrons produced using the Titan laser at the Jupiter Laser Facility (Livermore, USA), where protons were accelerated from 23 m thick plastic targets and directed onto a LiF converter to produce neutrons. For this purpose, several diagnostics were used to measure these neutron emissions, such as CR-39, activation foils, time-of-flight detectors and direct measurement of residual activity in the LiF converters. The use of these different, independently operating diagnostics enables comparison of the various measurements performed to provide a robust characterization. These measurements led to a neutron yield of neutrons per shot with a modest angular dependence, close to that simulated.