Measurements of electron-induced neutrons as a tool for determination of electron temperature of fast electrons in the task of optimization laser-produced plasma ions acceleration

Sakaki, Hironao; Nishiuchi, Mamiko; Maeda, Shota; Sagisaka, Akito; Pirozhkov, A. S.; Pikuz, T.; Faenov, A.*; Ogura, Koichi; Fukami, Tomoyo; Matsukawa, Kenya*; Kanasaki, Masato; Fukuda, Yuji; Yogo, Akifumi; Esirkepov, T. Z.; Kiriyama, Hiromitsu; Shimomura, Takuya; Nakai, Yoshiki*; Tanoue, Manabu; Torimoto, Kazuhiro; Okamoto, Masahiro*; Sato, Tatsuhiko   ; Niita, Koji*; Tamura, Jun  ; Nishio, Katsuhisa   ; Sako, Hiroyuki   ; Yamauchi, Tomoya*; Watanabe, Yukinobu; Bulanov, S. V.; Kondo, Kiminori

High intensity laser-plasma interaction has attracted considerable interest for a number of years. The laser-plasma interaction is accompanied by generation of various charged particle beams. Results of simultaneous novel measurements of electron-induced photonuclear neutrons (photoneutron), which are a diagnostic of the laser-plasma interaction, are proposed to use for optimization of the laser-plasma ion generation. The proposed method is demonstrated by the laser irradiation with the intensity os 110 W/cm on the metal foil target. The photoneutrons are measured by using NE213 liquid scintillation detectors. Heavy-ion signal is registered with the CR39 track detector simultaneously. The measured signals of the electron-induced photoneutrons are well reproduced by using the Particle and Heavy Ion Transport code System (PHITS). The results obtained provide useful approach for analyzing the various laser based ion beams.