DOE PAGES title logo U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Title: Disassembly time of deuterium-cluster-fusion plasma irradiated by an intense laser pulse

Journal Article · · Physical Review. E, Statistical, Nonlinear, and Soft Matter Physics
 [1]
  1. Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)

Energetic deuterium ions from large deuterium clusters (>10 nm diameter) irradiated by an intense laser pulse (>10¹⁶ W/cm²) produce DD fusion neutrons for a time interval determined by the geometry of the resulting fusion plasma. We show an analytical solution of this time interval, the plasma disassembly time, for deuterium plasmas that are cylindrical in shape. Assuming a symmetrically expanding deuterium plasma, we calculate the expected fusion neutron yield and compare with an independent calculation of the yield using the concept of a finite confinement time at a fixed plasma density. The calculated neutron yields agree quantitatively with the available experimental data. Our one-dimensional simulations indicate that one could expect a tenfold increase in total neutron yield by magnetically confining a 10 - keV deuterium fusion plasma for 10 ns.

Research Organization:
Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE
Grant/Contract Number:
AC52-06NA25396
OSTI ID:
1221407
Report Number(s):
LA-UR--15-21646
Journal Information:
Physical Review. E, Statistical, Nonlinear, and Soft Matter Physics, Journal Name: Physical Review. E, Statistical, Nonlinear, and Soft Matter Physics Journal Issue: 1 Vol. 92; ISSN 1539-3755; ISSN PLEEE8
Publisher:
American Physical Society (APS)Copyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

References (37)

Cluster beams in the super-intense femtosecond laser pulse journal November 2002
SRIM – The stopping and range of ions in matter (2010)
  • Ziegler, James F.; Ziegler, M. D.; Biersack, J. P.
  • Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section B: Beam Interactions with Materials and Atoms, Vol. 268, Issue 11-12 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nimb.2010.02.091
journal June 2010
A critical overview of recent stopping power programs for positive ions in solid elements journal October 2013
Nuclear fusion from explosions of femtosecond laser-heated deuterium clusters journal April 1999
Kilotesla Magnetic Field due to a Capacitor-Coil Target Driven by High Power Laser journal January 2013
High energy ions and nuclear fusion in laser–cluster interaction journal February 2002
Detailed study of nuclear fusion from femtosecond laser-driven explosions of deuterium clusters journal July 2002
Fusion neutron and ion emission from deuterium and deuterated methane cluster plasmas journal January 2004
Fusion neutron yield from high intensity laser-cluster interaction journal June 2006
Two-pulse driving of D+D nuclear fusion within a single Coulomb exploding nanodroplet journal February 2010
Optimum laser intensity for the production of energetic deuterium ions from laser-cluster interaction journal September 2013
All-optical characterization of cryogenically cooled argon clusters in continuous gas jets journal July 2014
Improved formulas for fusion cross-sections and thermal reactivities journal April 1992
Interaction of intense laser pulses with atomic clusters journal May 1996
Femtosecond time-resolved studies of the dynamics of noble-gas cluster explosions journal May 1999
Model of neutron-production rates from femtosecond-laser–cluster interactions journal May 2001
Nuclear fusion driven by Coulomb explosion of homonuclear and heteronuclear deuterium- and tritium-containing clusters journal November 2001
Role of laser-pulse duration in the neutron yield of deuterium cluster targets journal November 2004
Coulomb explosion of hydrogen clusters irradiated by an ultrashort intense laser pulse journal August 2006
Efficient fusion neutron generation from heteronuclear clusters in intense femtosecond laser fields journal November 2009
Optimization of the neutron yield in fusion plasmas produced by Coulomb explosions of deuterium clusters irradiated by a petawatt laser journal February 2013
Experimental study of fusion neutron and proton yields produced by petawatt-laser-irradiated D 2 - 3 He or CD 4 - 3 He clustering gases journal September 2013
Characterization of deuterium clusters mixed with helium gas for an application in beam-target-fusion experiments journal December 2014
Gigagauss-scale quasistatic magnetic field generation in a snail-shaped target journal April 2015
Temperature Measurements of Fusion Plasmas Produced by Petawatt-Laser-Irradiated D 2 − He 3 or CD 4 − He 3 Clustering Gases journal July 2013
Measurement of the Plasma Astrophysical S Factor for the He 3 ( d , p ) He 4 Reaction in Exploding Molecular Clusters journal August 2013
Time-Resolved X-Ray Imaging of Anisotropic Nanoplasma Expansion journal September 2014
Explosion Dynamics of Rare Gas Clusters in Strong Laser Fields journal January 1998
Nuclear Fusion Driven by Coulomb Explosions of Large Deuterium Clusters journal March 2000
Characterization of Fusion Burn Time in Exploding Deuterium Cluster Plasmas journal October 2000
Nuclear Fusion induced by Coulomb Explosion of Heteronuclear Clusters journal June 2001
Deuterium-Deuterium Fusion Dynamics in Low-Density Molecular-Cluster Jets Irradiated by Intense Ultrafast Laser Pulses journal July 2002
Time-Resolved Explosion of Intense-Laser-Heated Clusters journal January 2003
Dynamics and Control of Shock Shells in the Coulomb Explosion of Very Large Deuterium Clusters journal January 2005
Laser-driven nonlinear cluster dynamics journal June 2010
Demonstration of a 11 petawatt laser based on a hybrid optical parametric chirped pulse amplification/mixed Nd:glass amplifier journal January 2010
Efficient generation of fusion neutrons from cryogenically cooled heteronuclear clusters irradiated by intense femtosecond lasers journal January 2014

Cited By (3)

Simulations of a polar molecule (sulfur dioxide) in a supersonic jet journal July 2018
Model-independent determination of the astrophysical S factor in laser-induced fusion plasmas journal April 2016
Uniform heating of materials into the warm dense matter regime with laser-driven quasimonoenergetic ion beams journal December 2015

Similar Records

Optimum laser intensity for the production of energetic deuterium ions from laser-cluster interaction
Journal Article · Sun Sep 15 04:00:00 UTC 2013 · Physics of Plasmas · OSTI ID:22224197

Diagnosing magnetized liner inertial fusion experiments on Z
Journal Article · Fri May 15 04:00:00 UTC 2015 · Physics of Plasmas · OSTI ID:22410409

Diagnosing magnetized liner inertial fusion experiments on Z
Journal Article · Thu May 14 04:00:00 UTC 2015 · Physics of Plasmas · OSTI ID:1185031