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Laser-driven nuclear fusion D+D in ultra-dense deuterium: MeV particles formed without ignition

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 April 2010

Shahriar Badiei ,
Patrik U. Andersson  and
Leif Holmlid
Shahriar Badiei
Affiliation:
Atmospheric Science, Department of Chemistry, University of Gothenburg, Göteborg, Sweden
Patrik U. Andersson
Affiliation:
Atmospheric Science, Department of Chemistry, University of Gothenburg, Göteborg, Sweden
Leif Holmlid*
Affiliation:
Atmospheric Science, Department of Chemistry, University of Gothenburg, Göteborg, Sweden
*
Address correspondence and reprint requests to: Leif Holmlid, Atmospheric Science, Department of Chemistry, University of Gothenburg, SE-412 96 Göteborg, Sweden. E-mail: [email protected]
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Abstract

The short D-D distance of 2.3 pm in the condensed material ultra-dense deuterium means that it is possible that only a small disturbance is required to give D+D fusion. This disturbance could be an intense laser pulse. The high excess kinetic energy of several hundred eV given to the deuterons by laser induced Coulomb explosions in the material increases the probability of spontaneous fusion without the need for a high plasma temperature. The temperature calculated from the normal kinetic energy of the deuterons of 630 eV from the Coulomb explosions is 7 MK, maybe a factor of 10 lower than required for ignition. We now report on experiments where several types of high-energy particles from laser impact on ultra-dense deuterium are detected by plastic scintillators. Fast particles with energy up to 2 MeV are detected at a time-of-flight as short as 60 ns, while neutrons are detected at 50 ns time-of-flight after passage through a steel plate. A strong signal peaking at 22.6 keV u−1 is interpreted as due to mainly T retarded by collisions with H atoms in the surrounding cloud of dense atomic hydrogen.

Keywords

ultra-dense deuteriumultra-dense hydrogencondensed atomic hydrogenfusionCoulomb explosion (CE)time-of-flight
Type
Research Article
Information
Laser and Particle Beams , Volume 28 , Issue 2 , June 2010 , pp. 313 - 317
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2010

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