K. A. Ivanov, S. A. Shulyapov, I. N. Tsymbalov, A. A. Akunets, N. G. Borisenko, I. M. Mordvintsev, I. V. Bozh'ev, R. V. Volkov, S. G. Bochkarev, V. Yu. Bychenkov, A. B. Savel'ev, “Efficiency enhancement of thermonuclear DD reaction in femtosecond laser plasma with the use of structured low-average-density targets”, Kvantovaya Elektronika, 2020, Volume 50, Number 2,Pages <nobr>169

This article is cited in 10 papers

Interaction of laser radiation with matter. Laser plasma

Efficiency enhancement of thermonuclear DD reaction in femtosecond laser plasma with the use of structured low-average-density targets

K. A. Ivanov^ab, S. A. Shulyapov^a, I. N. Tsymbalov^a, A. A. Akunets^b, N. G. Borisenko^b, I. M. Mordvintsev^ab, I. V. Bozh'ev^ac, R. V. Volkov^a, S. G. Bochkarev^bd, V. Yu. Bychenkov^bd, A. B. Savel'ev^ab

^a Faculty of Physics, Lomonosov Moscow State University
^b P. N. Lebedev Physical Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow
^c Quantum Technology Center, Moscow
^d The Center for Fundamental and Applied Research, All-Russia Research Institute of Automatics, Moscow

Abstract: An increase in the yield of fast neutrons is experimentally demonstrated by exciting a nuclear DD reaction in the interaction of a relativistically intense (over 10¹⁸ W cm^-2) ultrashort laser pulse with a deuterated low-average-density target volume-structured at the wavelength scale. It is shown that decreasing the average target density from 0.78 to 0.35 g cm^-3 doubles the neutron flux, which reaches 7 × 10⁴ particles per 1 J of input energy. The effect may be associated with an increase in the number of accelerated deuterium ions due to the three dimensional expansion of individual elements of the target structure.

Keywords: relativistic laser plasma, thermonuclear DD reaction, neutron source, structured target.

Received: 03.10.2019
Revised: 20.11.2019