NEW PHYSICAL POSSIBILITIES IN COMPACT NEUTRON SOURCES

Some non-traditional physical approaches to increase the yield paramet ers of compact impulse neutron sources based on (d,t) or (d,d) nuclear reactions are considered. For obtaining a high level of accelerating fields and intense ion current in a small accelerating volume, the eff ective magnetic suppression of the electronic component in an accelera tion gap (ion diode with magnetic isolation), the collective accelerat ion of deuteron ions from laser plasma, and the acceleration of plasmo ids are studied. Mainly these approaches have been realized by using t he laser irradiation to create a plasma in an ion source. Experimental results and numerical calculations point out that utilizing these met hods can result, using a compact laboratory apparatus (e.g. based on s ealed neutron tubes), in a yield of 10(8)-10(10) n/pulse, pulse durati on 10(-8)-10(-6) s, pulse rate 10-10(3) Hz and lifetime about 10(7) sh ots. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.