Researchers interested in using neutrons to probe materials currently need access to particle accelerators or fission reactors, but a tabletop neutron-imaging device may be on the way. Markus Roth at the Technical University of Darmstadt, Germany, and his colleagues used a 200-terawatt laser at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico to generate a high-energy neutron beam that can be directed at neutron-absorbing objects.

The team produced the beam by sending laser pulses into a deuterium-rich plastic target, knocking deuterons (which consist of a proton and a neutron) into a beryllium rod that then shot neutrons forwards. The researchers' technique used less than one-quarter of the laser energy and generated an order of magnitude more neutrons in a forward directed beam than previous methods.

The group hopes that its approach could be used to create a portable neutron source for use in university laboratories.

Phys. Rev. Lett. 110, 044802 (2013)