Nuclear fusion from coulomb explosions of D2 clusters ionized by a femtosecond laser

Recent experiments on the interaction of intense, ultrafast pulses with large van der Waals bonded clusters have shown that these clusters can explode with substantial kinetic energy. Producing Coulomb explosions in deuterium clusters with a 35 fs laser pulse, we have accelerated ions to sufficient kinetic energy to drive DD nuclear fusion. By diagnosing the fusion yield through measurements of 2.45 MeV fusion neutrons, we have measured the production of over 104 neutrons per laser shot when 100 mJ of laser energy is used.