Laser and Particle Beams, Volume. 2023, Issue 2, 7831712(2023)

Univocal Discrimination of α Particles Produced by 11B(p, α)2α Fusions in Laser-Matter Experiments by Advanced Thomson Spectrometry

Martina Salvadori1, Massimiliano Scisciò1, Giorgio Di Giorgio1, Mattia Cipriani1, Pier Luigi Andreoli1, Giuseppe Cristofari1, Riccardo De Angelis1, Danilo Giulietti2, Fabrizio Consoli1, and Daniele Margarone
Author Affiliations
  • 1ENEA Fusion and Technology for Nuclear Safety and Security Department C.R. Frascati Rome Italy
  • 2University of Pisa Physics Department E. Fermi Pisa Italy
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    The energy problem is an open issue becoming increasingly pressing. The possibility to use nuclear fusion as an alternative energy source is thus acquiring progressively more importance and many investors are pushing to achieve the goal of an electric plant based on fusion. The most studied reaction is the deuterium-tritium one, but this poses several technical issues related to the handling of the radioactive fuel and neutron generation. In this frame, the aneutronic 11B(p, α)2α fusion reaction has attracted the interest of many researchers. Despite a fusion reactor based on pB is still a long-term goal, the study of this reaction is important both for astrophysics research and for its possible employment in schemes of high brightness source of α particles for applications, as for instance in medicine. Nevertheless, the univocal identification of the produced alphas is a well-known challenging task when the reaction is triggered by high-intensity lasers. Indeed, due to the multifaceted emission typical of laser-matter interactions, the signal coming from alphas is often superimposed to that generated by protons and by other ions, and in many cases, it is therefore hardly recognizable. In this work, we analysed the possibility of employing a Thomson spectrometer (TS) with an adequate differential filtering system for the exclusion from the α-particle trace, the contribution of all other ionic species. Moreover, for the energy ranges where the filtering method cannot be successfully applied, we investigated the feasibility of integrating in the TS assembly a particle detector for time-of-flight (TOF) measurements.

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    Martina Salvadori, Massimiliano Scisciò, Giorgio Di Giorgio, Mattia Cipriani, Pier Luigi Andreoli, Giuseppe Cristofari, Riccardo De Angelis, Danilo Giulietti, Fabrizio Consoli, Daniele Margarone. Univocal Discrimination of α Particles Produced by 11B(p, α)2α Fusions in Laser-Matter Experiments by Advanced Thomson Spectrometry[J]. Laser and Particle Beams, 2023, 2023(2): 7831712

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    Paper Information

    Category: Research Articles

    Received: Jul. 25, 2022

    Accepted: Apr. 7, 2023

    Published Online: Jun. 21, 2023

    The Author Email:

    DOI:10.1155/2023/7831712

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