Simultaneous Investigation of the Nuclear Reactions $${}^{11}$$ B $$\boldsymbol{(p,3\alpha)}$$ and $${}^{11}$$ B $$\bold
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CLEI Experiment
(p, 3α) Simultaneous Investigation of the Nuclear Reactions 11 B(p, 11 (p, 11 and B(p, n) С as a New Tool for Determining the Absolute Yield of Alpha Particles in Picosecond Plasmas V. S. Belyaev1) , A. P. Matafonov1), V. P. Krainov2)* , A. Yu. Kedrov1) , B. V. Zagreev1) , A. S. Rusetsky3), N. G. Borisenko3) , A. I. Gromov3) , A. V. Lobanov4), and V. S. Lisitsa5) Received March 22, 2020; revised April 18, 2020; accepted April 18, 2020
Abstract—The results of experimental investigations devoted to initiating the promising nuclear fusion reaction 11 B(p, 3α) in picosecond laser plasmas at a laser-radiation intensity of 5 × 1018 W/cm2 are presented. A new tool for determining the absolute yield of alpha particles in the reaction 11 B(p, 3α) on the basis of simultaneously measuring the number of neutrons in the reference nuclear reaction 11 B(p, n)11 C is proposed. At the above values of the laser-pulse parameters, the application of this new procedure to estimating the total number of alpha particles per pulse from the reaction 11 B(p, 3α) leads to a value of 108 particles within a solid angle of 4π sr. The results presented here differ substantially from the data obtained in measuring the single-channel yield of alpha particles. DOI: 10.1134/S1063778820050063
1. INTRODUCTION The prospective viability of boron–hydrogen mixtures as a thermonuclear fuel, which possess a number of important advantages, such as a small number of product neutrons with moderately low energies and cheapness, has been a subject of lively discussions in the literature for nearly half a century [1, 2]. Investigations of the nuclear reaction 11 B(p, 3α) gained momentum owing to experimental studies initiated by our group in 2005 [3]. In the experiment reported in [3], the yield of alpha particles was obtained for the first time in a laser plasma owing to the implementation of the reaction 11 B(p, 3α). This experiment was performed at a laser facility providing radiation of intensity 2 × 1018 W/cm2 . The alpha-particle yield was recorded at a level of 103 within one steradian. The result obtained in [3] shows that it is possible in principle to study experimentally p11 B reactions. 1)
Central Research Institute for Machine Building, Korolev, Russia. 2) Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology (State University), Dolgoprudnyi, Russia. 3) Lebedev Physical Institute, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia. 4) IPG IRE-Polus, Fryazino, Russia. 5) National Research Center Kurchatov Institute, Moscow, Russia. * E-mail: [email protected]
The first experiments along these lines after 2005 employed the Pico 2000 laser facility at LULI (Laboratoire pour Utilisation des Lasers Intenses) [4]. The facility for studying p11 B reactions makes it possible to synchronize two laser beams by focusing them within a single vacuum chamber. The authors of [4] indicate that their objective was to demonstrate scientific advances in implementing neutronless fusion by employing short laser pulses and to create preconditions for further research on the
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