Tritium-containing targets deuterium

It should be noted that commercial neutron generators are also easily adopted to the generation of 2.8 MeV neutrons produced by the 2H(2H,w)3He reaction. In most cases it is merely necessary to replace the tritium target with one containing occluded deuterium. The neutron yield from this reaction is much less than for the D—T reaction and the useful flux is often not much greater than could be obtained by use of isotopic sources. About 35 elements have been found to possess reasonably high (n,n y) or (n,y) cross sections for 2.8 MeV neutrons 41>. Since the 8 most common elements in the earth s crust are not among those readily activated, there is some potential application of 2.8 MeV neutrons in analyses for certain elements in minerals and ores, where major element interferences via 14 MeV activation may be a problem. 

Nuclear fusion provides the energy of our sun and other stars. Development of controlled fusion as a practical source of energy requires methods to initiate and contain the fusion process. Here a very powerful laser beam has initiated a fusion reaction in a 1-mm target capsule that contained deuterium and tritium. In a 0.5-picosecond burst, 10 neutrons were... 

As we noted in Section 21.6, energy can be obtained by combining light nuclei into a heavier nucleus by nuclear fusion. Such fusion reactions have been observed in the laboratory by means of bombardment using particle accelerators. Deuterons (iH nuclei), for example, can be accelerated toward targets containing deuterium (iH atoms) or tritium (iH atoms). The reactions are... 

The pulsed-neutron generator consists principally of an ion source for the production of deuterons in a pulsed beam, and focusing and accelerating electrodes to focus and accelerate this beam to strike the target. The target contains deuterium or tritium, so we obtain neutrons from the reaction - He + n + 3.3 MeV or - He + n + 17.6 MeV. 

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