In the open-access journal European Physical Journal Plus, Károly Osvay and his colleagues report in a technical article on their laser neutron production experiments at the University of Szeged and ELI ALPS, which target 1010 neutrons per second. Among the authors of the publication are Gérard Mourou, Nobel laureate research professor at the University of Szeged, and Gábor Szabó, professor of physics at SZTE and managing director of ELI ALPS.
The objectives of laser neutron production were published in the December 2020 issue of Magyar Tudomány (Hungarian Science), the official monthly science magazine of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences by Károly Osvay, head of the National Laser-Initiated Transmutation Laboratory at SZTE, and Gábor Szabó, professor at SZTE and head of ELI ALPS. In 2022, Károly Osvay demonstrated that it is possible to generate neutron radiation with a low-energy laser; in his experiments in May 2023, he generated neutron radiation continuously for 6 hours, and in their 2024 experimental campaign, Károly Osvay's research team was able to achieve a neutron yield in a short time with a much higher repetition rate laser that already promised medical, pre-clinical applications.
The research program has also played a role in Gérard Mourou joining the University of Szeged as a research professor in April 2024 (although a publication in early April still lists him as a researcher at École Polytechnique in France). Among the authors is theoretical physics professor Toshiki Tajima, who, together with Gérard Mourou, first suggested that a laser-generated neutron source could be used for transmutation.
In autumn 2024, Károly Osvay's research team will conduct a new experimental campaign at ELI ALPS to stabilize the current yield of 108 n/s. The next research cycle of the National Laser-Initiated Transmutation Laboratory will aim to increase the neutron yield to over 1010 within 5 years.
Among the authors of the paper published in the European Physical Journal Plus is Katalin Hideghéty, a professor at the University of Szeged's Oncotherapy Clinic and leader of the ELI ALPS Biomedical Applications Group, who in 2023 studied how to set up radiobiological measurements in vacuum. The first applications of laser neutron production will be experiments to produce ionizing radiation that can be used to treat cancer.
The authors of the paper, led by Károly Osvay, include researchers from the National Laser-Initiated Transmutation Laboratory and ELI ALPS, Gérard Mourou, and Toshiki Tajima, and researchers from ATOMKI, the Institute for Nuclear Research of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, in Debrecen.
Károly Osvay, who is currently in the United States for a conference, said the publication is an important milestone for the National Laser-Initiated Transmutation Laboratory. In addition to clarifying the technical issues of laser neutron production, the article is in fact the National Laser-Initiated Transmutation Laboratory’s program for the next few years, based on the results so far.
The fact that this research program could be published in an internationally listed, peer-reviewed journal is also an accepted sign in science that the National Laser-Initiated Transmutation Laboratory is internationally listed and its program is considered sound.
Written by Sándor Panek
Featured image: Dr. Károly Osvay, head of the National Laser-Initiated Transmutation Laboratory at SZTE.
Photo by Ádám Kovács-Jerney
