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Laser-initiated p – 11 B fusion reactions in petawatt high-repetition-rate laser facilities

Scisciò, Massimiliano [ENEA Nuclear Department – C. R. Frascati (Italy)] (ORCID:0000000327851318)·Petringa, G. [Laboratori Nazionali del Sud, Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare (LNS-INFN), Catania (Italy)] (ORCID:0000000228548436)·Zhu, Z. [Texas A&M University, College Station, TX (United States); Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai (China); University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing (China)] (ORCID:000900073861930X)·Rodrigues, M. R. D. [Texas A&M University, College Station, TX (United States)] (ORCID:0000000186032326)·Alonzo, M. [ENEA Nuclear Department – C. R. Frascati (Italy)] (ORCID:0000000196931210)·Andreoli, P. L. [ENEA Nuclear Department – C. R. Frascati (Italy)]·Filippi, F. [ENEA Nuclear Department – C. R. Frascati (Italy)] (ORCID:000000028983556X)·Consoli, Fe. [Laboratori Nazionali del Sud, Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare (LNS-INFN), Catania (Italy)]·Huault, M. [Universidad de Salamanca (Spain); Université de Bordeaux, Talence (France)] (ORCID:0000000186999166)·Raffestin, D. [Université de Bordeaux, Talence (France)] (ORCID:0000000238035386)·Molloy, D. [Queen’s University Belfast (United Kingdom); HB11 Energy Holdings Pty, Freshwater (Australia)] (ORCID:000000023089010X)·Larreur, H. [Universidad de Salamanca (Spain); Université de Bordeaux, Talence (France)] (ORCID:0009000515181718)·Singappuli, D. [Université de Bordeaux, Talence (France)] (ORCID:0000000270767296)·Carriere, T. [Université de Bordeaux, Talence (France)] (ORCID:0000000177059260)·Verona, C. [Università di Roma “Tor Vergata,” (Italy)] (ORCID:0000000164013765)·Nicolai, P. [Université de Bordeaux, Talence (France)] (ORCID:0000000225239021)·McNamee, A. [Queen’s University Belfast (United Kingdom)] (ORCID:0009000313591380)·Ehret, M. [Centro de Laseres Pulsados, Salamanca (Spain)] (ORCID:0000000276716246)·Filippov, E. [Centro de Laseres Pulsados, Salamanca (Spain)] (ORCID:0000000187748860)·Lera, R. [Centro de Laseres Pulsados, Salamanca (Spain)] (ORCID:000000029303479X)·Pérez-Hernández, J. A. [Centro de Laseres Pulsados, Salamanca (Spain)] (ORCID:0000000211170190)·Agarwal, S. [FZU–Institute of Physics of Czech Academy of Sciences, Prague (Czech Republic)]·Krupka, M. [FZU–Institute of Physics of Czech Academy of Sciences, Prague (Czech Republic); Institute of Plasma Physics of Czech Academy of Sciences, Prague (Czech Republic)] (ORCID:0000000307844145)·Singh, S. [FZU–Institute of Physics of Czech Academy of Sciences, Prague (Czech Republic); Institute of Plasma Physics of Czech Academy of Sciences, Prague (Czech Republic)] (ORCID:0000000157542431)·Istokskaia, V. [The Extreme Light Infrastructure ERIC, Dolni Brezany (Czech Republic)] (ORCID:0000000347689207)·Lattuada, D. [Laboratori Nazionali del Sud, Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare (LNS-INFN), Catania (Italy); Università degli Studi di Enna “Kore”, Enna (Italy)] (ORCID:0000000210731339)·La Cognata, M. [Laboratori Nazionali del Sud, Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare (LNS-INFN), Catania (Italy)] (ORCID:0000000218194814)·Guardo, G. L. [Laboratori Nazionali del Sud, Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare (LNS-INFN), Catania (Italy)] (ORCID:0000000268341034)·Palmerini, S. [Università degli Studi di Perugia (Italy); Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Perugia (Italy)] (ORCID:0000000153868389)·Rapisarda, G. [Laboratori Nazionali del Sud, Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare (LNS-INFN), Catania (Italy); Università degli Studi di Catania (Italy)]·Batani, K. [IPPLM Institute of Plasma Physics and Laser Microfusion, Warsaw (Poland)] (ORCID:0000000300099904)·Cipriani, M. [ENEA Nuclear Department – C. R. Frascati (Italy)] (ORCID:000000022500605X)·Cristofari, G. [ENEA Nuclear Department – C. R. Frascati (Italy)] (ORCID:0009000425986897)·Di Ferdinando, E. [ENEA Nuclear Department – C. R. Frascati (Italy)]·Di Giorgio, G. [ENEA Nuclear Department – C. R. Frascati (Italy)]·De Angelis, R. [ENEA Nuclear Department – C. R. Frascati (Italy)] (ORCID:0000000236574562)·Giulietti, D. [Università di Pisa and INFN (Italy)]·Xu, J. [Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai (China); Tongji University, Shanghai (China)] (ORCID:0000000283532875)·Volpe, L. [Centro de Laseres Pulsados, Salamanca (Spain); Universidad Politécnica de Madrid (Spain)]·Rodríguez-Frías, M. D. [Centro de Laseres Pulsados, Salamanca (Spain); Universidad de Alcalá, Madrid (Spain)] (ORCID:0000000225504462)·Giuffrida, L. [Laboratori Nazionali del Sud, Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare (LNS-INFN), Catania (Italy); The Extreme Light Infrastructure ERIC, Dolni Brezany (Czech Republic)] (ORCID:0000000341454829)·Margarone, D. [Laboratori Nazionali del Sud, Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare (LNS-INFN), Catania (Italy); Queen’s University Belfast (United Kingdom); The Extreme Light Infrastructure ERIC, Dolni Brezany (Czech Republic)] (ORCID:0000000219179683)·Batani, D. [Université de Bordeaux, Talence (France)] (ORCID:0000000231599461)·Cirrone, G. A. P. [Laboratori Nazionali del Sud, Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare (LNS-INFN), Catania (Italy); Centro Siciliano di Fisica Nucleare e Struttura della Materia (CSFNSM), Catania (Italy)] (ORCID:0000000157339281)·Bonasera, A. [Texas A&M University, College Station, TX (United States)] (ORCID:0000000236537622)·Consoli, Fa. [ENEA Nuclear Department – C. R. Frascati (Italy)] (ORCID:0000000186943357)
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Abstract

Driving of the nuclear fusion reaction p + 11 B → 3α + 8.7 MeV under laboratory conditions by interaction between high-power laser pulses and matter has become a popular field of research, owing to its numerous potential applications: as an alternative to deuterium–tritium for fusion energy production, astrophysics studies, and alpha-particle generation for medical treatment. One possible scheme for laser-driven p– 11 B reactions is to direct a beam of laser-accelerated protons onto a boron (B) sample (the so-called “pitcher-catcher” scheme). This technique has been successfully implemented on large high-energy lasers, yielding hundreds of joules per shot at low repetition. We present here a complementary approach, exploiting the high repetition rate of the VEGA III petawatt laser at CLPU (Spain), aiming at accumulating results from many interactions at much lower energy, to provide better control of the parameters and the statistics of the measurements. Despite a moderate energy per pulse, our experiment allowed exploration of the laser-driven fusion process with tens (up to hundreds) of laser shots. The experiment provided a clear signature of the reactions involved and of the fusion products, accumulated over many shots, leading to an improved optimization of the diagnostics for experimental campaigns of this type. In this paper, we discuss the effectiveness of laser-driven p– 11 B fusion in the pitcher–catcher scheme, at a high repetition rate, addressing the challenges of this experimental scheme and highlighting its critical aspects. Our proposed methodology allows evaluation of the performance of this scheme for laser-driven alpha particle production and can be adapted to high-repetition-rate laser facilities with higher energy and intensity.

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Alpha particlesEnergy efficiencyEnergy productionLasersNuclear fusionParticle productionPlasma accelerationPlasma applicationstransmission and distribution

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Scisciò, Massimiliano [ENEA Nuclear Department – C. R. Frascati (Italy)] (ORCID:0000000327851318), Petringa, G. [Laboratori Nazionali del Sud, Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare (LNS-INFN), Catania (Italy)] (ORCID:0000000228548436), Zhu, Z. [Texas A&M University, College Station, TX (United States); Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai (China); University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing (China)] (ORCID:000900073861930X), Rodrigues, M. R. D. [Texas A&M University, College Station, TX (United States)] (ORCID:0000000186032326), Alonzo, M. [ENEA Nuclear Department – C. R. Frascati (Italy)] (ORCID:0000000196931210), Andreoli, P. L. [ENEA Nuclear Department – C. R. Frascati (Italy)], Filippi, F. [ENEA Nuclear Department – C. R. Frascati (Italy)] (ORCID:000000028983556X), Consoli, Fe. [Laboratori Nazionali del Sud, Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare (LNS-INFN), Catania (Italy)], Huault, M. [Universidad de Salamanca (Spain); Université de Bordeaux, Talence (France)] (ORCID:0000000186999166), Raffestin, D. [Université de Bordeaux, Talence (France)] (ORCID:0000000238035386), Molloy, D. [Queen’s University Belfast (United Kingdom); HB11 Energy Holdings Pty, Freshwater (Australia)] (ORCID:000000023089010X), Larreur, H. [Universidad de Salamanca (Spain); Université de Bordeaux, Talence (France)] (ORCID:0009000515181718), Singappuli, D. [Université de Bordeaux, Talence (France)] (ORCID:0000000270767296), Carriere, T. [Université de Bordeaux, Talence (France)] (ORCID:0000000177059260), Verona, C. [Università di Roma “Tor Vergata,” (Italy)] (ORCID:0000000164013765), Nicolai, P. [Université de Bordeaux, Talence (France)] (ORCID:0000000225239021), McNamee, A. [Queen’s University Belfast (United Kingdom)] (ORCID:0009000313591380), Ehret, M. [Centro de Laseres Pulsados, Salamanca (Spain)] (ORCID:0000000276716246), Filippov, E. [Centro de Laseres Pulsados, Salamanca (Spain)] (ORCID:0000000187748860), Lera, R. [Centro de Laseres Pulsados, Salamanca (Spain)] (ORCID:000000029303479X), Pérez-Hernández, J. A. [Centro de Laseres Pulsados, Salamanca (Spain)] (ORCID:0000000211170190), Agarwal, S. [FZU–Institute of Physics of Czech Academy of Sciences, Prague (Czech Republic)], Krupka, M. [FZU–Institute of Physics of Czech Academy of Sciences, Prague (Czech Republic); Institute of Plasma Physics of Czech Academy of Sciences, Prague (Czech Republic)] (ORCID:0000000307844145), Singh, S. [FZU–Institute of Physics of Czech Academy of Sciences, Prague (Czech Republic); Institute of Plasma Physics of Czech Academy of Sciences, Prague (Czech Republic)] (ORCID:0000000157542431), Istokskaia, V. [The Extreme Light Infrastructure ERIC, Dolni Brezany (Czech Republic)] (ORCID:0000000347689207), Lattuada, D. [Laboratori Nazionali del Sud, Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare (LNS-INFN), Catania (Italy); Università degli Studi di Enna “Kore”, Enna (Italy)] (ORCID:0000000210731339), La Cognata, M. [Laboratori Nazionali del Sud, Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare (LNS-INFN), Catania (Italy)] (ORCID:0000000218194814), Guardo, G. L. [Laboratori Nazionali del Sud, Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare (LNS-INFN), Catania (Italy)] (ORCID:0000000268341034), Palmerini, S. [Università degli Studi di Perugia (Italy); Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Perugia (Italy)] (ORCID:0000000153868389), Rapisarda, G. [Laboratori Nazionali del Sud, Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare (LNS-INFN), Catania (Italy); Università degli Studi di Catania (Italy)], Batani, K. [IPPLM Institute of Plasma Physics and Laser Microfusion, Warsaw (Poland)] (ORCID:0000000300099904), Cipriani, M. [ENEA Nuclear Department – C. R. Frascati (Italy)] (ORCID:000000022500605X), Cristofari, G. [ENEA Nuclear Department – C. R. Frascati (Italy)] (ORCID:0009000425986897), Di Ferdinando, E. [ENEA Nuclear Department – C. R. Frascati (Italy)], Di Giorgio, G. [ENEA Nuclear Department – C. R. Frascati (Italy)], De Angelis, R. [ENEA Nuclear Department – C. R. Frascati (Italy)] (ORCID:0000000236574562), Giulietti, D. [Università di Pisa and INFN (Italy)], Xu, J. [Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai (China); Tongji University, Shanghai (China)] (ORCID:0000000283532875), Volpe, L. [Centro de Laseres Pulsados, Salamanca (Spain); Universidad Politécnica de Madrid (Spain)], Rodríguez-Frías, M. D. [Centro de Laseres Pulsados, Salamanca (Spain); Universidad de Alcalá, Madrid (Spain)] (ORCID:0000000225504462), Giuffrida, L. [Laboratori Nazionali del Sud, Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare (LNS-INFN), Catania (Italy); The Extreme Light Infrastructure ERIC, Dolni Brezany (Czech Republic)] (ORCID:0000000341454829), Margarone, D. [Laboratori Nazionali del Sud, Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare (LNS-INFN), Catania (Italy); Queen’s University Belfast (United Kingdom); The Extreme Light Infrastructure ERIC, Dolni Brezany (Czech Republic)] (ORCID:0000000219179683), Batani, D. [Université de Bordeaux, Talence (France)] (ORCID:0000000231599461), Cirrone, G. A. P. [Laboratori Nazionali del Sud, Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare (LNS-INFN), Catania (Italy); Centro Siciliano di Fisica Nucleare e Struttura della Materia (CSFNSM), Catania (Italy)] (ORCID:0000000157339281), Bonasera, A. [Texas A&M University, College Station, TX (United States)] (ORCID:0000000236537622), Consoli, Fa. [ENEA Nuclear Department – C. R. Frascati (Italy)] (ORCID:0000000186943357). 2025-04-28. Laser-initiated p – 11 B fusion reactions in petawatt high-repetition-rate laser facilities. https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0241993

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