Experimental study of laser-driven nuclear interactions
Researchers
Research Areas
Nuclear engineering, plasma physics, photonics
Project Brief
Recent advances in laser technology – and in particular the introduction of chirped pulsed amplification (CPA) which has allowed to realise high-intensity high-energy short-pulse laser systems – have opened the way to interesting experimental research on fusion of hydrogen (H) with boron (B). This is an aneutronic fusion reaction releasing alpha particles and indeed laser-driven hydrogen-boron fusion experiments have been considered as a way to develop high-brightness alpha particle sources. However, in all demonstrations of laser-driven HB fusion reactions, almost no effort has been made to optimise the fuels to achieve the maximum reaction gains. For example, optimised targets could include hydrogen loading of boron targets (as often used in the fibre optics industry) or tailor-made boron nitride materials. Furthermore, samples including nano-structured boron nitride or targets containing only isotopically pure boron-11 and hydrogen will be investigated. These materials will allow the laser parameters to be modelled and specifically optimised for these targets and provide the best possibility of quantifying the primary HB fusion reactions, for instance, eliminating unwanted nuclear reactions (e.g. with nitrogen).
This PhD project is done in co-supervision between the University of Bordeaux and the University of New South Wales in Australia, with the participation of two partner institutions: the company HB11 energy from Australia and the research centre CLPU in Salamanca, Spain, will allow experiments to be realised.