Feasibility of compact neutron sources generated by intense femtosecond laser - cluster interactions

With the laser intensity and cluster size scalability of ions emitted from clusters Coulomb-exploded by intense femtosecond laser pulses, the neutron yield of nuclear reactions is scaled by the laser energy to discuss the feasibility of compact neutron sources of new generation. With the Coulomb-explosion model, the neutron yields by the reactions of Li(p,n)Be and d(d,n)He are estimated. The maximum energy of ions emitted from clusters can be optimized by the laser intensity and the cluster size so that the cross section of nuclear reaction is maximum. For both reactions, with the modern laser technology we will be able to have the compact neutron sources of the order of 10¹¹-10¹³ neutrons/s available to scientific, medical, and semiconductor industrial fields.