Observation of a reduced-turbulence regime with boron powder injection in a stellarator

In state-of-the-art stellarators, turbulence is a major cause of the degradation of plasma confinement. To maximize confinement, which eventually determines the amount of nuclear fusion reactions, turbulent transport needs to be reduced. Here we report the observation of a confinement regime in a stellarator plasma that is characterized by increased confinement and reduced turbulent fluctuations. The transition to this regime is driven by the injection of submillimetric boron powder grains into the plasma. With the line-averaged electron density being kept constant, we observe a substantial increase of stored energy and electron and ion temperatures. At the same time, the amplitude of the plasma turbulent fluctuations is halved. While lower frequency fluctuations are damped, higher frequency modes in the range between 100 and 200 kHz are excited. We have observed this regime for different heating schemes, namely with both electron and ion cyclotron resonant radio frequencies and neutral beams, for both directions of the magnetic field and both hydrogen and deuterium plasmas.

Heavy-Ion Fusion Reaction Calculations: Establishing the Theoretical Frameworks for 111In Radionuclide over the Coupled Channel Model

In this work, the production of 111In radionuclide has been investigated theoretically via heavy-ion fusion reactions of two stable nuclei: 37Cl+ 74Ge, 26Mg+ 85Rb, 30Si+ 81Br, and 46Ca+ 65Cu reactions. Fusion cross-sections, barrier distributions, and potential energies on mutual orientations in the reactions planes of all reactions have been researched in detail around the barrier region via a coupled channel (CC) model using different codes. First of all, the most suitable codes and calculation parameter sets were determined through the 37Cl+ 74Ge reaction, whose experimental data were available. The compatibility of the calculations via NRV knowledge base, CCFULL, CCDEF codes, and Wong’s formula with experimental data was analyzed. Barrier distributions and cross-sections for heavy-ion fusion reactions have been investigated with miscellaneous codes and vibrational-rotational nuclei combinations for interacting nuclei. Afterward, calculations were made with the determined parameter values for new reaction suggestions (26Mg+ 85Rb, 30Si+ 81Br, and 46Ca+ 65Cu reactions) and the results were compared. This study aims to suggest the new reaction combinations for the production of 111In radionuclide, to explore the impacts of different calculation codes and nuclear parameter combinations on the heavy-ion fusion cross-sections and barrier distributions, to demonstrate that the results are reliable, and to emphasize the importance of developing these studies in the preparation of new experiments.

‘Significant step’ towards break-even target

Scientists at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California say they have come closer to realizing “ignition”, at which fusion reactions generate at least as much energy as its lasers put in.

Spontaneity of nuclear fusion: a qualitative analysis via classical thermodynamics

Background: So far the feasibility of nuclear reactions has been studied only through the evaluation of the reaction rate, which gives us information about the kinetics, while the thermodynamic analysis has been limited to evaluations of the change in enthalpy without any consideration of the change in entropy. Methods: This work examines the thermodynamics of nuclear fusion reactions through a simplified approach. The analysis introduces the thermodynamic study of fission and fusion reactions through their comparison with a chemical process. Results: The main result is that fission reactions are always spontaneous (ΔG < 0) since a lot of energy is released in the form of heat and the system moves spontaneously towards a more disordered state. In contrast, fusion reactions are spontaneous only when the enthalpic contribution of the change in Gibbs energy overcomes the entropic contribution. This condition is verified when the temperature of the process is below a characteristic value T*, calculated as the ratio between the energy corresponding to the mass defect and the change of entropy of the fusion reaction. Conclusions: Due to the unavailability of data related to entropy changes in fusion reactions, only a qualitative thermodynamic analysis has been carried out. Through such analysis, the influence of the operating conditions over the spontaneity of fusion processes has been discussed. The final considerations emphasize the role of the thermodynamics analysis that should be implemented in the current studies that, so far, have been mainly based on the assessment of the reaction rate and exothermicity of fusion reactions.

Plasma screening of nuclear fusion reactions in liquid layers of compact degenerate stars: a first-principle study

ABSTRACT A reliable description of nuclear fusion reactions in inner layers of white dwarfs and envelopes of neutron stars is important for realistic modelling of a wide range of observable astrophysical phenomena from accreting neutron stars to Type Ia supernovae. We study the problem of screening of the Coulomb barrier impeding the reactions by a plasma surrounding the fusing nuclei. Numerical calculations of the screening factor are performed from the first principles with the aid of quantum-mechanical path integrals in the model of a one-component plasma of atomic nuclei for temperatures and densities typical for dense liquid layers of compact degenerate stars. We do not rely on various quasi-classic approximations widely used in the literature, such as factoring out the tunnelling process, tunnelling in an average spherically symmetric mean-force potential, usage of classic free energies and pair correlation functions, linear mixing rule, and so on. In general, a good agreement with earlier results from the thermonuclear limit to Γ ∼ 100 is found. For a very strongly coupled liquid 100 ≲ Γ ≤ 175, a deviation from currently used parametrizations of the reaction rates is discovered and approximated by a simple analytic expression. The developed method of nuclear reaction rate calculations with account of plasma screening can be extended to ion mixtures and crystallized phases of stellar matter.