Enhancement of the muon-catalyzed fusion cycle under laser irradiation.

Abstract

It is suggested that the rate of the muon-catalyzed fusion cycle can be increased by powerful electromagnetic fields. The fraction of muons reaching the deuterium ground state {ital Q}{sub 1{ital S}} can be decreased (thus increasing the fusion cycle) by changing the route of the muon-deexcitation cascade under laser irradiation. The muon cascade is determined by a competition between radiative transitions, external Auger transitions, quenching of the muon levels, and transfer processes. The muon-transfer cross section from the 2{ital S} level of deuterium is larger by a factor of about 5 than the transfer cross section from the 2{ital P} level. Therefore the following two-step process is proposed in order to enhance the rate of the muon transfer (1): (a) a laser-induced transition between the levels 2{ital P} and 2{ital S} of the deuterium (b) muon transfer by collisions to the tritium 2{ital S} level. The results show that a 0.2-eV laser (the Lamb shift in deuterium) with an intensity of about 10{sup 9} W/cm{sup 2} can decrease the value of {ital Q}{sub 1{ital S}} by a factor of 3.