High Yield of Alpha Particles Generated in Proton-Boron Nuclear Fusion Reactions Induced in Solid Boron Hydride B₁₈H₂₂

2024/07/09 by M. Krůs, M. Ehn, Krůs, M. +21
Materials Science · Physics and Astronomy · #FOS: Physical sciences #Fusion materials and technologies #Nuclear Materials and Properties #Nuclear Physics and Applications #Plasma Physics (physics.plasm-ph)

paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2407.06729

openalex publication_date 2024/07/09 · openalex created_date 2024/07/11 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28

Abstract

The use of solid boron hydride molecules as a fuel for proton-boron fusion was proposed by M. Krůs and M. Londesborough at "Interaction of Inorganic Clusters, Cages, and Containers with Light" workshop in November 2021. Here we demonstrate experimentally, for first time, that the solid boron hydride, octadecaborane - anti-B₁₈H₂₂, produces a relatively high yield of alpha particles of about 10⁹ per steradian using a sub-nanosecond, low-contrast laser pulse (PALS) with a typical intensity of 10¹⁶ Wcm^-2. In contrast to previously published proton-boron studies, the boron hydrides, due to their composition containing only atoms of boron and hydrogen, represent a natural choice for future proton-boron nuclear fusion schemes.

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