A compact accelerator-driven deuterium–deuterium neutron source using heavy water jet target

Abstract

A compact accelerator-driven deuterium–deuterium neutron source using a heavy water jet target is under development at the Institute of Nuclear Physics and Chemistry. The neutrons are generated by bombarding a 0.45 mm-thick heavy water jet target with 11 MeV/0.33 mA deuterons. The angular neutron yield between 10–14 MeV is about 6.5×1011 n/s/sr at 0 degree. The D(d,n)3 reaction is adopted to generate high energy neutrons for its relatively high angular neutron yield, outstanding forward directional characteristics and convenient for obtaining, operating and maintaining. To minimize the length of the neutron source, an IH-DTL is adopted for its high accelerating gradient, low input energy and low power consumption. The design of the deuteron accelerator, consisting of a deuteron injector, a four vane Radio-Frequency Quadrupole (RFQ) and an Interdigital H-mode Drift Tube Linac (IH-DTL), is introduced in this paper. The heavy water jet target, which suffers high deuteron beam power density, is also introduced in this paper.