We are proposing a compact neutron generator based on a Li beam driver. The proposed neutron generator comprises a laser ion source, a radio-frequency quadrupole linear accelerator (RFQ linac), a drift tube linac, and a target containing protons. In the generator, the lithium ion is used as a projectile instead of protons to utilize the kinematic focusing technique. The technique enables us to enhance the neutron flux without increasing the beam energy, which is important to develop a clean compact neutron generator. Moreover, the combination of a laser ion source and a RFQ linac with the direct plasma injection scheme will provide several tens of mA of a fully ionized lithium beam, which is much higher than that of conventional heavy ion sources comparable with proton drivers. Neutrons are generated by the nuclear reaction of the lithium ions and protons in the beam target. In this paper, we reported the current status of the development. For RFQ, we designed the RFQ rods to accelerate 40 mA of 7Li3+. We fabricated and installed the rods into a cavity, and, as a first test, accelerated 10 mA of C6+ successfully.

中文翻译：

---

基于强锂束驱动器的中子发生器

我们提出了一种基于锂离子束驱动器的紧凑型中子发生器。所提出的中子发生器包括一个激光离子源、一个射频四极直线加速器（RFQ 直线加速器）、一个漂移管直线加速器和一个含有质子的目标。在发电机中，锂离子被用作弹丸而不是质子，以利用运动聚焦技术。该技术使我们能够在不增加束能量的情况下增强中子通量，这对于开发清洁紧凑的中子发生器很重要。此外，激光离子源和 RFQ 直线加速器与直接等离子体注入方案的组合将提供数十毫安的完全电离锂束，这远高于可与质子驱动器相媲美的传统重离子源。中子由束靶中的锂离子和质子的核反应产生。在本文中，我们报告了当前的发展状况。对于 RFQ，我们设计了 RFQ 棒来加速 40 mA 的 7Li3+。我们制造了这些棒并将其安装到空腔中，作为第一次测试，成功加速了 10 mA 的 C6+。