Multiphoton fusion of light nuclei in intense laser fields

Abstract

We investigate the fusion cross sections of light nuclei in the presence of linearly polarized intense laser fields. By combining the Coulomb-Volkov solutions with the complex spherical square-well nuclear potential, we derive an explicit formulation of the multiphoton cross section in a self-consistent manner. Our analysis is specifically focused on deuteron-triton (DT) and proton-boron (p$^{11}{\rm B}$) fusion reactions, both of which have garnered widespread attention. The theoretical results reveal that, under conditions of longer laser wavelengths and lower incident particle kinetic energies, a few thousands of photons can participate in the fusion reactions, resulting in a substantial enhancement of fusion cross sections by almost ten orders of magnitude. We elucidate the multiphoton mechanism underlying these findings and discuss their implications.