Investigation of the Yield of the Nuclear Reaction B() Initiated by Powerful Picosecond Laser Radiation.

The results obtained by experimentally and theoretically studying the yield of the promising nuclear-fusion reaction B() initiated by powerful picosecond laser radiation of intensity W/cm are presented. A new procedure that relies on a simultaneous detection of the yield of alpha particles and the neutron yield in the reference reaction B C and which permits reaching a high precision of measurements is employed. The measured alpha-particle yield per pulse in the reaction B() is 10 particles in 4 sr at the above laser-pulse parameters. The results of a numerical particle-in-cell (PIC) simulation of the nuclear-fusion reaction B() proceeding in a solid-state boron target are presented. These results on the alpha-particle yield per pulse in the reaction B() agree fairly well with experimental results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]