Nucleosynthesis driven by Coulomb explosion of nanodroplets
- School of Chemistry, Tel-Aviv University, Ramat Aviv, 69978 Tel-Aviv (Israel)
This paper presents a computational and theoretical study of the yields for the {sup 12}C(p,{gamma}){sup 13}N and {sup 12}C(d,n){sup 13}N nucleosynthesis reactions driven by high-energy (MeV) Coulomb explosion (CE) of (CH{sub 4}){sub n} and (CD{sub 4}){sub n} nanodroplets (n=10{sup 4}-10{sup 7}, radii R{sub 0}=100-500 A) in ultraintense near-infrared Gaussian laser fields (peak intensities I{sub M}=10{sup 18}-10{sup 19} W cm{sup -2}, pulse length {tau}=25 fs). Efficient nucleosynthesis with {sup 12}C nuclei requires the production of protons and deuterons in the energy range of 0.5-2.0 MeV, which is accomplished by CE of nanodroplets. The energy distributions of the nuclei were obtained from scaled molecular dynamics simulations and were utilized to calculate the energy averaged cross sections and the reaction yields for nucleosynthesis. Two distinct reaction modes were established pertaining to reactions inside the plasma filament volume (IF), and to reactions outside the plasma filament volume (OF). The dominating contribution to the total yields originates from the OF mode. The time resolved {gamma}-ray emission for {sup 12}C(p,{gamma}){sup 13}N will be exhibited in distinct time intervals of 2-100 ps for the OF mode and of 65 fs-3 ps for the IF mode. Estimates of the yields were provided by incorporating the effects of nanodroplet size distributions that result in a slow size dependence of the yields in the range R{sub 0}>250 A, and the effects of laser intensity attenuation in an assembly of nanodroplets that result in the decrease of the OF and IF yields due to the decrease of the effective plasma filament volume. For 400 A nanodroplets at I{sub M}=4x10{sup 18}-10{sup 19} W cm{sup -2}, under realistic experimental conditions, the {sup 12}C(p,{gamma}){sup 13}N nucleosynthesis driven by CE of (CH{sub 4}){sub n} nanodroplets is characterized by a yield (per laser pulse) of {approx}100, while the yield for the {sup 12}C(d,n){sup 13}N nucleosynthesis driven by CE of (CD{sub 4}){sub n} clusters is {approx}9x10{sup 4}. Table-top nucleosynthesis driven by nanodroplet CE is amenable to experimental observation.
- OSTI ID:
- 21072707
- Journal Information:
- Physics of Plasmas, Vol. 14, Issue 12; Other Information: DOI: 10.1063/1.2815792; (c) 2007 American Institute of Physics; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 1070-664X
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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CARBON 12
CARBON 12 TARGET
COMPUTERIZED SIMULATION
COULOMB EXCITATION
CROSS SECTIONS
DEUTERONS
ENERGY SPECTRA
GAMMA RADIATION
LASER RADIATION
METHANE
MEV RANGE
MOLECULAR DYNAMICS METHOD
NITROGEN 13
NUCLEAR REACTION YIELD
NUCLEOSYNTHESIS
PLASMA FILAMENT
PLASMA SIMULATION
PROTON REACTIONS
PULSES
TIME RESOLUTION