Neutron dose assessment in laser-generated ultra-short pulsed fields

Abstract

ELI Beamlines is one of the pillars of the Extreme Light Infrastructure European Research Infrastructure Consortium (ELI ERIC), the European project aiming at building the next generation of high power lasers for fundamental research and industrial applications. Several high-power lasers are hosted by the ELI Beamlines facility. Even at a power lower than the nominal one, when interacting with a target, the laser can generate mixed ionizing radiation fields of unique nature. One of the major laser systems, High-repetition-rate advanced petawatt laser system (HAPLS) was already used in commissioning experiments. Detecting the neutrons generated during these experiments has been a challenging task, since certain difficulties were faced. First, the experimental conditions were frequently altered during the commissioning phase (such as laser beam parameters, experimental geometry or target type). Next, the extremely short duration of the ionizing radiation pulse generated by the laser (~10-14 s) complicated the correct interpretation of the data provided by the detectors designed and calibrated in standard fields. Here, one commissioning experiment is described, together with the means of addressing the problem of the detection of the ionizing radiation and the lessons learned in this endeavour.