Enhancing the creation of elements in laser-assisted heavy-ion fusion reactions

2025/05/21 by Nicholas Thomson, Thomson, Nicholas, Laura Moschini +3 · 1 voice
Physics and Astronomy · #FOS: Physical sciences #Nuclear Experiment (nucl-ex) #Nuclear Theory (nucl-th) #nucl-ex #nucl-th

paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2505.15390

Abstract

Low-energy fusion of heavy ions is a fascinating coupling-assisted quantum tunnelling problem, whose understanding is crucial for advancing the synthesis of new elements and isotopes. Quantum dynamical coupled-channels calculations of laser-assisted ¹⁶O + ²³⁸U fusion are presented for both a central collision and the total fusion cross-sections, suggesting that laser-nucleus interaction can enhance the average ¹⁶O + ²³⁸U fusion probability by 6-60 % at subbarrier energies using quasi-static laser fields of intensity 10²⁷-10²⁹ Wcm^-2 and photon's energy of 1 eV. Femtosecond laser pulses are shown to reduce this enhancement by many orders of magnitude.

Citations

• Coupled-channels calculations for nuclear reactions: From exotic nuclei to superheavy elements
• Quantum Tunneling in Nuclear Fusion

Discussions

• New preprint ft postdoc Nick and supervisor Alexis on laser-assisted nuclear fusion arxiv.org/abs/2505.15390 [bsky, 1 points, 0 comments]

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