1. Proton-Boron Fusion Yield Increased by Orders of Magnitude with Foam Targets
- Author
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Wei, Wen-Qing, Zhang, Shi-Zheng, Deng, Zhi-Gang, Qi, Wei, Xu, Hao, Liu, Li-Rong, Zhang, Jia-Lin, Li, Fang-Fang, Xu, Xing, Hu, Zhong-Min, Chen, Ben-Zheng, Ma, Bu-Bo, Li, Jian-Xing, Ren, Xue-Guang, Xu, Zhong-Feng, Hoffmann, Dieter H. H., Fan, Quan-Ping, Wang, Wei-Wu, Wang, Shao-Yi, Teng, Jian, Cui, Bo, Lu, Feng, Yang, Lei, Gu, Yu-Qiu, Zhao, Zong-Qing, Cheng, Rui, Wang, Zhao, Lei, Yu, Xiao, Guo-Qing, Zhao, Hong-Wei, Liu, Bing, Zhao, Guan-Chao, Liu, Min-Sheng, Xie, Hua-Sheng, Cao, Lei-Feng, Ren, Jie-Ru, Zhou, Wei-Min, and Zhao, Yong-Tao
- Subjects
Physics - Plasma Physics - Abstract
A novel intense beam-driven scheme for high yield of the tri-alpha reaction 11B(p,{\alpha})2{\alpha} was investigated. We used a foam target made of cellulose triacetate (TAC, C_9H_{16}O_8) doped with boron. It was then heated volumetrically by soft X-ray radiation from a laser heated hohlraum and turned into a homogenous, and long living plasma. We employed a picosecond laser pulse to generate a high-intensity energetic proton beam via the well-known Target Normal Sheath Acceleration (TNSA) mechanism. We observed up to 10^{10}/sr {\alpha} particles per laser shot. This constitutes presently the highest yield value normalized to the laser energy on target. The measured fusion yield per proton exceeds the classical expectation of beam-target reactions by up to four orders of magnitude under high proton intensities. This enhancement is attributed to the strong electric fields and nonequilibrium thermonuclear fusion reactions as a result of the new method. Our approach shows opportunities to pursue ignition of aneutronic fusion.
- Published
- 2023