Measurement of the plasma astrophysical S factor for the 3He(D, p)4He reaction in exploding molecular clusters

TL;DR

This study measures the plasma astrophysical S factor for the 3He(D, p)4He fusion reaction at keV temperatures using laser-irradiated molecular clusters, providing new experimental data relevant to astrophysics.

Contribution

First experimental measurement of the plasma astrophysical S factor for 3He(D, p)4He at low energies using ultrafast laser interactions with molecular clusters.

Findings

Measured S factor agrees with existing parameterizations.

Demonstrated a novel laser-cluster method for fusion reaction studies.

Provided data at energies relevant to astrophysical conditions.

Abstract

The plasma astrophysical S factor for the 3He(D, p)4He fusion reaction was measured for the first time at temperatures of few keV, using the interaction of intense ultrafast laser pulses with molecular deuterium clusters mixed with 3He atoms. Different proportions of D2 and 3He or CD4 and 3He were mixed in the gas jet target in order to allow the measurement of the cross-section for the 3He(D, p)4He reaction. The yield of 14.7 MeV protons from the 3He(D, p)4He reaction was measured in order to extract the astrophysical S factor at low energies. Our result is in agreement with other S factor parameterizations found in the literature.