The next seminar on Thu 25th May at 16:00 CET, organised by COST Action PROBONO and HB11 Energy will be given by Fabrizio Consoli on the topic "Laser-Initiated 11B(p,α)2α fusion reactions in petawatt high-repetition-rates laser facilities in petawatt high-repetition-rates laser facilities"
Link: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/82504134897?pwd=RjY3aUg0RlpaR1E3UkVoUFN1Zld2Zz09
Meeting-ID: 825 0413 4897
Kenncode: 656493
Laser-Initiated 11B(p,α)2α fusion reactions
in petawatt high-repetition-rates laser facilities
by Fabrizio Cosoli
ENEA - Centro Ricerche Frascati, Frascati, Lazio,Italy
Abstract: The interaction of intense laser pulses with matter can trigger fusion reactions in laboratory conditions. H-11B reaction represents a potential alternative for alpha generation to the most studied deuterium-tritium one, the primary candidate for future reactors. The aneutronic p-11B reaction is, indeed, attracting for many applications such as fusion energy production, astrophysics and medical treatments. The triggering of such fusion reactions in laser-matter experiments was successfully implemented, so far, with energetic lasers having hundreds to thousands of joules per shot. This is possible only on a few large installations but limited to very few shots. Instead, our aim is to investigate a complementary approach, exploiting the high repetition rates of modern laser plants. In particular, we will discuss preliminary results of an experiment performed at VEGA III petawatt laser at CLPU (Spain), aiming at accumulating results from many interactions at ‘low’ energy (20 J in about 50 fs at maximum compression), and at moderate intensity (about 1019 W/cm2) for a better control of the parameters and statistics of the measurements. The ‘pitcher-catcher’ scheme was used, where TNSA-accelerated protons irradiated a thick natural boron sample. The interaction was carefully characterized, and fusion yields were measured by classical track detectors and nuclear activation methodologies.
