Muon motion irradiated by a femtosecond laser pulse in muon-catalyzed fusion

Abstract

Introducing a superintense femtosecond laser pulse in the muon-catalyzed fusion (μCF) target, taking the mixture after fusion reaction as a overdense plasma, and based on the Newton classical equations, the paper studies the movement of muon in the plasma. Muon drift along the direction of laser propagation remains even at the end of the laser pulse. At the peak laser intensity of 1021 W/cm2, muon goes from the skin layer into field-free matter in a short time much less than the pulse duration, before the laser pulse reaches its peak value. According to the calculated results, when the laser intensity reaches 1023 W/cm2, the relativistic muon drift should be considered. Influence of the laser on other particles in the plasma is small. Hence, this method can avoid muon sticking to alpha effectively and reduce muon-loss probability in μCF.