Study of the yield of D-D, D-3He fusion reactions produced by the interaction of intense ultrafast laser pulses with molecular clusters

Abstract

The interaction of intense ultrafast laser pulses with molecular clusters produces a Coulomb explosion of the clusters. In this process, the positive ions from the clusters might gain enough kinetic energy to drive nuclear reactions. An experiment to measure the yield of D-D and D-3He fusion reactions was performed at University of Texas Center for High Intensity Laser Science. Laser pulses of energy ranging from 100 to 180 J and duration 150fs were delivered by the Petawatt laser. The temperature of the energetic deuterium ions was measured using a Faraday cup, whereas the yields of the D-D reactions were measured by detecting the characteristic 2.45 MeV neutrons and 3.02 MeV protons. In order to allow the simultaneous measurement of 3He(D,p)4He and D-D reactions, different concentrations of D2 and 3He or CD4 and 3He were mixed in the gas jet target. The 2.45 MeV neutrons from the D(D,n)3He reaction were detecteded as well as the 14.7 MeV protons from the 3He(D,p)4He reaction. The preliminary results will be shown.