R. C. Haight

Neutrons are unique particles to probe samples in many fields of research ranging from biology to material sciences to engineering and security applications. Access to bright, pulsed sources is currently limited to large accelerator facilities and there has been a growing need for compact sources over the recent years. Short pulse laser driven neutron sources could be a compact and relatively cheap way to produce neutrons with energies in excess of 10 MeV. For more than a decade experiments have tried to obtain neutron numbers sufficient for applications. Our recent experiments demonstrated an ion acceleration mechanism based on the concept of relativistic transparency. Using this new mechanism, we produced an intense beam of high energy (up to 170 MeV) deuterons directed into a Be converter to produce a forward peaked neutron flux with a record yield, on the order of 10(10) n/sr. We present results comparing the two acceleration mechanisms and the first short pulse laser generated neutron radiograph.

We have completed a new set of total cross section measurements of 31 elements and isotopes spanning the periodic table from A=1 to 238. We employed the same technique as in Finley et al. [Phys. Rev. C 47, 237 (1993)] with refinements intended to allow measurements on separated isotopes and improved systematic error control. The goal of the new measurement was 1% statistical accuracy in 1% energy bins with systematic errors less than 1%. This was achieved for all but the thinnest samples. Stringent checks of systematic errors in this measurement resulted in a reassignment of systematic uncertainties to the neutron total cross sections reported in Finley et al. Microscopic optical model calculations were carried out to interpret the results of the experiment. Two specific types of optical models were employed. The Jeukenne-Lejeune-Mahaux model was used in the range of 5--160 MeV, and a model based on the empirical effective interaction of Kelly was used from 135 to 650 MeV. These models are shown to be useful for predicting both neutron total cross sections and proton reaction cross sections. They are particularly important for light nuclei, for which standard global phenomenological parametrizations of the optical potential are insufficiently accurate.

Pulsed-beam time-of-flight techniques are used in a transmission measurement with a continuous spectrum of neutrons to determine neutron total cross sections with good precision up to 600 MeV. Neutrons are produced by spallation of the 800 MeV proton beam from the Los Alamos Meson Physics Facility accelerator incident on a thick, heavily shielded tungsten target at the Weapons Neutron Research facility at Los Alamos National Laboratory. Transmission measurements were completed for fifteen elements with 9\ensuremath{\le}A\ensuremath{\le}209 and three isotopically enriched samples of $^{40}\mathrm{Ca}$, $^{90}\mathrm{Zr}$, and $^{208}\mathrm{Pb}$. Principal features of the experiment are the intensity and time structure of the neutron source, tight collimation of the neutron beam line, good geometry, rapid cycling of the samples, stable electronics, and a small, fast neutron detector. Errors due to counting statistics were generally less than 1% for each of several hundred energy bins for each target. The measurements represent steps in the development of a neutron-nucleus optical potential at intermediate energy and important input for the clarification of isovector effects in the nucleon-nucleus interaction. The data also provide insight into the long-standing discussion of mean free paths of the nucleon in the nucleus.