A new research article in the frame of COST Action PROBONO is published in Matter Radiation Extremes  by M. Scisciò, G. Petringa, Z. Zhu, M. R. D. Rodrigues, M. Alonzo, P. L. Andreoli, F. Filippi, Fe. Consoli, M. Huault, D. Raffestin, D. Molloy, H. Larreur, D. Singappuli, T. Carriere, C. Verona, P. Nicolai, A. McNamee, M. Ehret, E. Filippov, R. Lera, J. A. Pérez-Hernández, S. Agarwal, M. Krupka, S. Singh, V. Istokskaia, D. Lattuada, M. La Cognata, G. L. Guardo, S. Palmerini, G. Rapisarda, K. Batani, M. Cipriani, G. Cristofari, E. Di Ferdinando, G. Di Giorgio, R. De Angelis, D. Giulietti, J. Xu, L. Volpe, M. D. Rodríguez-Frías, L. Giuffrida, D. Margarone, D. Batani, G. A. P. Cirrone, A. Bonasera, Fa. Consoli.

https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0241993

Laser-initiated p–¹¹B fusion reactions in petawatt high-repetition-rate laser facilities 

M. Scisciò,^1,a) G. Petringa,² Z. Zhu,^3,4,5 M. R. D. Rodrigues,³ M. Alonzo,¹ P. L. Andreoli,¹ F. Filippi,¹ Fe. Consoli,² M. Huault,^6,7 D. Raffestin,⁷ D. Molloy,^8,9 H. Larreur,^6,7 D. Singappuli,⁷ T. Carriere,⁷ C. Verona,¹⁰ P. Nicolai,⁷ A. McNamee,⁸ M. Ehret,¹¹ E. Filippov,¹¹ R. Lera,¹¹ J. A. Pérez-Hernández,¹¹ S. Agarwal,¹² M. Krupka,^12,13 S. Singh,^12,13 V. Istokskaia,¹⁴ D. Lattuada,^2,15 M. La Cognata,² G. L. Guardo,² S. Palmerini,^16,17 G. Rapisarda,^2,18 K. Batani,¹⁹ M. Cipriani,¹ G. Cristofari,¹ E. Di Ferdinando,¹ G. Di Giorgio,¹ R. De Angelis,¹ D. Giulietti,²⁰ J. Xu,^4,21 L. Volpe,^11,22 M. D. Rodríguez-Frías,^11,23 L. Giuffrida,^2,14 D. Margarone,^2,8,14 D. Batani,⁷ G. A. P. Cirrone,^2,24 A. Bonasera,³ and Fa. Consoli^1,a)

1 ENEA Nuclear Department – C. R. Frascati, Via Enrico Fermi 45, 00044 Frascati, Italy
2 Laboratori Nazionali del Sud, Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare (LNS-INFN), 95125 Catania, Italy
3 Cyclotron Institute, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas 77843, USA
4 Shanghai Institute of Applied Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 201800, China
5 University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China
6 Departamento de Fisica Fundamental, Universidad de Salamanca, Patio de Escuelas 1, 37008 Salamanca, Spain
7 Université de Bordeaux, CNRS, CEA, CELIA (Centre Lasers Intenses et Applications), Unité Mixte de Recherche 5107, Talence 33400, France
8 Centre for Light–Matter Interactions, Queen’s University Belfast, Belfast BT7 1NN, United Kingdom
9 HB11 Energy Holdings Pty, Freshwater 2096, Australia
10 Dipartimento di Ingegneria Industriale, Università di Roma “Tor Vergata,”, Via del Politecnico 1, 00133 Roma, Italy
11 Centro de Laseres Pulsados, Building M5, Science Park, Calle Adaja 8, Villamayor, 37185 Salamanca, Spain
12 FZU–Institute of Physics of Czech Academy of Sciences, 182 21 Prague, Czech Republic
13 Institute of Plasma Physics of Czech Academy of Sciences, 182 00 Prague, Czech Republic
14 ELI Beamlines Facility, The Extreme Light Infrastructure ERIC, Dolni Brezany 252 41, Czech Republic
15 Facoltà di Ingegneria e Architettura, Università degli Studi di Enna “Kore”, 94100 Enna, Italy
16 Dipartimento di Fisica e Geologia, Università degli Studi di Perugia, Via A. Pascoli s/n, 06125 Perugia, Italy
17 Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Sezione di Perugia, Via A. Pascoli s/n, 06125 Perugia, Italy
18 Dipartimento di Fisica e Astronomia “Ettore Majorana,” Università degli Studi di Catania, 95123 Catania, Italy
19 IPPLM Institute of Plasma Physics and Laser Microfusion, Hery Street 23, 01-497 Warsaw, Poland
20 Dipartimento di Fisica, Università di Pisa and INFN, Largo B. Pontecorvo, n. 3, 56127 Pisa, Italy
21 School of Physics Science and Engineering, Tongji University, Shanghai 200092, China
22 ETSI Aeronautica y del Espacio, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, 28006 Madrid, Spain
23 Dpto. Física y Matemáticas, Universidad de Alcalá, E-28801 Madrid, Spain
24 Centro Siciliano di Fisica Nucleare e Struttura della Materia (CSFNSM), Via S. Sofia 64, 95123 Catania, Italy

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ABSTRACT
Driving of the nuclear fusion reaction p + ¹¹B → 3α + 8.7 MeV under laboratory conditions by interaction between high-power laser pulses and matter has become a popular field of research, owing to its numerous potential applications: as an alternative to deuterium–tritium for fusion energy production, astrophysics studies, and alpha-particle generation for medical treatment. One possible scheme for laser-driven p–¹¹B reactions is to direct a beam of laser-accelerated protons onto a boron (B) sample (the so-called “pitcher-catcher” scheme). This technique has been successfully implemented on large high-energy lasers, yielding hundreds of joules per shot at low repetition. We present here a complementary approach, exploiting the high repetition rate of the VEGA III petawatt laser at CLPU (Spain), aiming at accumulating results from many interactions at much lower energy, to provide better control of the parameters and the statistics of the measurements. Despite a moderate energy per pulse, our experiment allowed exploration of the laser-driven fusion process with tens (up to hundreds) of laser shots. The experiment provided a clear signature of the reactions involved and of the fusion products, accumulated over many shots, leading to an improved optimization of the diagnostics for experimental campaigns of this type. In this paper, we discuss the effectiveness of laser-driven p–¹¹B fusion in the pitcher–catcher scheme, at a high repetition rate, addressing the challenges of this experimental scheme and highlighting its critical aspects. Our proposed methodology allows evaluation of the performance of this scheme for laser-driven alpha particle production and can be adapted to high-repetition-rate laser facilities with higher energy and intensity.

Citation
M. Scisciò, G. Petringa, Z. Zhu, M. R. D. Rodrigues, M. Alonzo, P. L. Andreoli, F. Filippi, Fe. Consoli, M. Huault, D. Raffestin, D. Molloy, H. Larreur, D. Singappuli, T. Carriere, C. Verona, P. Nicolai, A. McNamee, M. Ehret, E. Filippov, R. Lera, J. A. Pérez-Hernández, S. Agarwal, M. Krupka, S. Singh, V. Istokskaia, D. Lattuada, M. La Cognata, G. L. Guardo, S. Palmerini, G. Rapisarda, K. Batani, M. Cipriani, G. Cristofari, E. Di Ferdinando, G. Di Giorgio, R. De Angelis, D. Giulietti, J. Xu, L. Volpe, M. D. Rodríguez-Frías, L. Giuffrida, D. Margarone, D. Batani, G. A. P. Cirrone, A. Bonasera, Fa. Consoli; Laser-initiated p–¹¹B fusion reactions in petawatt high-repetition-rate laser facilities. Matter Radiat. Extremes 1 May 2025; 10 (3): 037402. https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0241993