Observation of neutronless fusion reactions in picosecond laser plasmas

Abstract

The yield of alpha particles in neutronless fusion reactions 11B +p in plasmas produced by picosecond laser pulses with the peak intensity of 2 x 10(18) W/cm2 has been observed. Experiments were carried out on the "Neodymium" laser facility at the pulse energy of 10-12 J and pulse duration of 1.5 ps. The composite targets 11B + (CH2)n were used. The yield of 10(3) alpha particles per pulse has been observed. The energy spectrum of alpha particles contains two maxima: at 3-4 MeV and at 6-10 MeV . The first of these peaks corresponds to the secondary alpha12 particles at the decay of the intermediate first excited state of 8Be, whereas the second peak demonstrates generation of alpha1 particles in the reaction 11B +p with the production of this excited state. Simultaneous measurements of neutrons result in zero yield, which proves the observation of neutronless fusion reactions in our experiments.