The key physical processes of laser-cluster interaction essential to understand and opimize the cluster fusion are investigated by using numerical simulation. By properly choosing the cluster size, spatial packing fraction and laser field amplitude, cluster ions are efficiently accelerated in a controlled manner to high energy in such a way for the fusion cross-section to be maximized. The production of fusion neutrons is expected to be enhanced by taking into account the spatial propagation of explosion front toward the surrounding fuel cluster region. It is also found that the average ion energy can exceed the Coulomb energy stored originally in the cluster by obtaining the laser energy through ambi-polar electrostatic field around the vacuum-medium interface. Such high energy ion generation may enhance the neutron yield by introducing the solid fuel collar that surrounds the cluster medium. Although the area of neutron irradiation is tiny, the resultant neutron intensity with this method may rival that of the conventional much larger system of neutron sources.
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