First Demonstration of a Triton Beam Using Target Normal Sheath Acceleration*

In a novel experiment, a triton beam was generated via the target normal sheath acceleration (TNSA) mechanism. Tritium gas was diffused at 200°C into 500 x 500 x 25-µm³ titanium targets, which were irradiated at an on-target intensity of 2*10¹⁸ W/cm² with the high-energy (1250-kJ), short-pulse (10-ps) OMEGA EP laser. The produced ion pulses contained ~10¹² tritons with an exponentially decreasing spectrum up to ~10 MeV, comparable to other TNSA experiments with protons. This triton beam was directed onto a secondary deuterated polyethylene target, which produced 10⁸ neutrons from deuterium–tritium fusion nuclear reactions. Further experiments are planned to investigate the T(t,2n)α reaction, which is of high interest for the study of few-nucleon systems, in particular ⁶He. Applications in the di-neutron transfer reactions ⁷Li(t,p)⁹Li and ⁹Be(t,p)¹¹Be will be discussed.