Nuclear Fusion Driven by Coulomb Explosions of Large Deuterium Clusters

Journal Article · Mon Mar 20 04:00:00 EST 2000 · Physical Review Letters

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.84.2634· OSTI ID:20215854

Zweiback, J ^[1]; Smith, R A ^[2]; Cowan, T E ^[1]; Hays, G ^[1]; Wharton, K B ^[1]; Yanovsky, V P ^[1]; Ditmire, T ^[1]

---

1. Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, P.O. Box 808, L-477, Livermore, California 94550 (United States)
2. Blackett Laboratory, Imperial College of Science, Technology, and Medicine, London, United Kingdom SW7 2BZ (United Kingdom)

Recent experiments on the interaction of intense, ultrafast laser pulses with large van der Waals bonded clusters have shown that these clusters can explode with substantial kinetic energy. By driving explosions in deuterium clusters with a 35 fs laser pulse, we have accelerated ions to sufficient kinetic energy to produce DD nuclear fusion. By diagnosing the fusion yield through measurements of 2.45 MeV fusion neutrons, we have found that the fusion yield from these exploding clusters varies strongly with the cluster size, consistent with acceleration of deuterons via Coulomb explosion forces. (c) 2000 The American Physical Society.

• OSTI ID: 20215854
• Journal Information: Physical Review Letters, Journal Name: Physical Review Letters Journal Issue: 12 Vol. 84; ISSN 0031-9007; ISSN PRLTAO
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY
ATOMIC CLUSTERS
BEAM-PLASMA SYSTEMS
DEUTERIUM
EXPERIMENTAL DATA
EXPLOSIONS
FUSION YIELD
THERMONUCLEAR REACTIONS