Chiral catalysis of nuclear fusion in molecules.

At low energies, nuclear fusion is strongly affected by electron screening of the Coulomb repulsion among the fusing nuclei. It may thus be possible to catalyze nuclear fusion in molecules (i.e., to fuse specific nuclei in situ) through quantum control of electron wave functions in intense laser fields. The circularly polarized (chiral) laser field can effectively squeeze the electron wave functions, greatly enhancing the screening in the spatial region relevant for the fusion process. We estimate the corresponding fusion probabilities, and find that the proposed chiral catalysis of nuclear fusion in molecules may be observable, potentially with important practical applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]