This is a rather astounding result. The authors have managed to cause deuterons-deuterons fusion in an array of nanowires via igniting it using only joule-level pulsed laser[1], i.e. not using the huge, gigantic lasers such as that as the National Ignition Facility.
This is an open-access paper and you can get the full version at this link.
And no, before you jump all over this one and think that this is the next fusion power generator, you need to think again. The authors are touting this as a viable (and cheaper) ultra-fast pulsed neutron source, which can be useful in many applications and studies.
Zz.
[1] A. Curtis et al., Nature Communnications DOI: 10.1038/s41467-018-03445-
This isn't the only compact neutron source. Dense plasma focus also scales down really well and is much less complex and expensive. Check out, "Evidence of nuclear fusion neutrons in an extremely small plasma focus device operating at 0.1 Joules" @ http://sci-hub.tw/10.1063/1.4989845
ReplyDeleteBoth fast pulse lasers and dense plasma focus require expensive high voltage pulse rated capacitors but at least with dense plasma focus you don't need the expensive/breakable optics.
There are plenty of other journal articles at higher energy levels like 1 joule as well that conclusively show neutrons from fusion.
Still, this wire/laser setup demonstrates some really neat physics. (ps, sorry if I posted this twice, with the captcha it isn't clear to me if it went through)