Nuclear Fusion in Laser-Driven Counter-Streaming Collisionless Plasmas

摘要

Nuclear fusion reactions are the most important processes in nature to powerstars and produce new elements, and lie at the center of the understanding ofnucleosynthesis in the universe. It is critically important to study thereactions in full plasma environments that are close to true astrophysicalconditions. By using laser-driven counter-streaming collisionless plasmas, westudied the fusion D$+$D$\rightarrow n +^3$He in a Gamow-like window around 27keV. The results show that astrophysical nuclear reaction yield can bemodulated significantly by the self-generated electromagnetic fields and thecollective motion of the plasma. This plasma-version mini-collider may providea novel tool for studies of astrophysics-interested nuclear reactions in plasmawith tunable energies in earth-based laboratories.