  We experimentally demonstrate enhanced absorption of near relativistic
optical vortex beams in $\mathrm{D_2O}$ plasmas to generate a record
fast-neutron yield of $1.45 \times 10^6$ n/s/sr. Beams with a topological
charge of 5 were shown to deliver up to a 3.3 times enhancement of fast-neutron
yield over a Gaussian focused beam of the same energy but having two orders of
magnitude higher intensity. This result was achieved with laser energies of 16
mJ and a pulse duration of 67 fs. The Orbital Angular Momentum (OAM)
beam-target interactions in our experiment were also investigated through
Particle-in-Cell (PIC) simulations. Electron density rippling resulting in
enhanced plasma wave excitation on the critical surface and significantly
enhanced resonance absorption is observed.
