Sources of Variable Energy Monoenergetic Neutrons for Fusion-Related Applications

Practical aspects of accelerator-based monoenergetic neutron sources are reviewed. In particular, the reactions ³H(p,n)³He, ¹Li(p,n)⁷Be, ¹¹B(p,n)¹¹C, ²H(d,n)³He, ²H(t,n)⁴He, ³H(d,n)⁴He, ¹H(t,n)³He, ¹H(⁷Li,n)⁷Be, ¹H(¹¹B,n)¹¹C, ¹H(^l3C,n)^I3N, and ¹H(¹⁵N,n)¹⁵O are considered. The outstanding properties of the newly developed sources of kinematically collimated neutrons are stressed. Intense monoenergetic sources are discussed, and it is shown that by using ¹H(t,n)³He, it should be possible to build a source of 14-MeV neutrons with an effective source strength of 10¹⁵ n/s that would also be useful in neutron radiotherapy.