Thermonuclear reaction rates and nuclear processes are difficult to study by means of conventional accelerator experiments at conditions relevant to stellar nucleosynthesis. The reason for this is that reaction rates in burning plasmas of stars are inherently different from those in accelerator experiments. The fusing nuclei are surrounded by bound electrons in accelerator experiments, whereas electrons occupy mainly continuum states in a stellar environment. Nuclear physics research will therefore benefit from an enlarged toolkit for studies of various nuclear reactions. In this presentation, we report on the first use of Inertial Confinement Fusion (ICF) experiments for studies of basic nuclear physics. These experiments were carried out at the OMEGA laser and the National Ignition Facility, in which spherical capsules were irradiated with powerful lasers to compress and heat the fuel to high enough temperatures and densities for significant nuclear reactions to occur. Three experiments will be highlighted in this presentation.

Plasma nuclear science: A new field of research using high energy density plasmas at OMEGA and the NIF

244th National Meeting (2012)

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