ABSTRACT
In contrast to ions, electrons and X-rays, neutrons are a unique species of particles as they only interact via the strong force. Thus, they can penetrate deep into matter and tell us where atoms are and how they move. There is a growing need for compact neutron sources in addition to the large spallation sources and nuclear reactors to make neutrons useful for applications. In addition to compact sources, like accelerators, pinch plasmas and plasma tubes, research on laser-driven sources has progressed over the last decades. With the use of high-contrast, ultra-intense lasers in different approaches to neutron production have been explored. Recently, using the onset of relativistic transparency of solids, these neutron sources have reached a performance where applications become foreseeable in the very near future. With the directed neutron emission characteristic, the very short pulse duration and the high numbers of neutrons per pulse, these sources are very promising candidates for neutron science for the coming decades.
