Recent Developments of Compact Neutron Generators at LBNL

We present recent work in the development of two new types of compact portable neutron generators, axial and field desorption, to be used for associated particle imaging and brachytherapy. The lightweight and small size of these neutron generators allow for greater versatility than current neutron sources that require heavy shielding and large spaces to operate. In these sources, neutrons are created via low energy (60-100 keV) nuclear reactions of deuterium with tritium or deuterium with deuterium ions, yielding neutrons with very distinct energies. These generators produce neutrons via deuterium and tritium ions incident on a deuterium or tritium self-loaded Ti target where the nuclear reactions occur. Preliminary ion source testing demonstrates the ability of these sources to operate at pressures of 2 to 8 mTorr and 10 to 10 torr and yield as much as 10 and 10 neutrons per second for the axial and field desorption sources, respectively.