Cluster-Impact Fusion and Effective Deuteron Temperature

Abstract

Temperature and kinematic line broadening are the primary contributions to the width of the proton energy spectrum measured in cluster-impact fusion experiments. By ascertaining these two contributions, we have determined an effective temperature for the high-velocity deuteron component that is responsible for the measured fusion yield. The extracted effective temperature is substantially higher than conventional estimates., and implies that cluster-impact fusion is hot fusion on an atomic scale. The proton spectrum rules out contaminants in explaining the high yield.

Comments: 11 pages, 2 figures. PACS numbers: 79.20.RF, 25.45.--z, 47.40.Nm, 52.50. Lp