Related papers: Fusion in a nanoshell: Harnessing plasmonic fields…
The interaction between light and matter can be enhanced by spatially concentrating the light field to boost the photon energy density and increasing the photon dwell time to prolong energy transfer between light and matter. Traditionally,…
In this paper we discuss the field enhancement due to surface plasmons resonances of metallic nanostructures, in particular nano spheres on top of a metal, and find maximum field enhancement of the order of 10^2, intensities enhancement of…
Nanostructured solid boron-hydrogen compounds have been suggested as target and fuel for laser fusion, offering improved laser-plasma coupling, avoiding cryogenic fuel handling and fuel pre-compression and ultimately allowing a transit from…
Plasmonic excitations decay within femtoseconds, leaving non-thermal (often referred to as "hot") charge carriers behind that can be injected into molecular structures to trigger chemical reactions that are otherwise out of reach -- a…
In dense astrophysical plasmas, neutron capture populates highly excited nuclear states close to the neutron threshold. The impact of additional low-energy nuclear excitations via coupling to the atomic shell on the ability of the so-formed…
Hybrid metallic nanoparticles encapsulated in oxide shells are currently intensely studied for plasmonic applications in sensing, medicine, catalysis, and photovoltaics. Here, we introduce a method for the synthesis of Au@Ag@SiO$_2$ cubes…
Metallic carbon nanotubes (CNTs) can provide ultra-dense, homogeneous plasma capable of sustaining resonant plasma waves-known as plasmons-with ultra-high field amplitudes. These waves can be efficiently driven by either high-intensity…
At low energies, nuclear fusion is strongly affected by electron screening of the Coulomb repulsion among the fusing nuclei. It may thus be possible to catalyze nuclear fusion in molecules (i.e., to fuse specific nuclei in situ) through…
The scaling of reaction yields in light ion fusion to low reaction energies is important for our understanding of stellar fuel chains and the development of future energy technologies. Experiments become progressively more challenging at…
Material losses in metals are a central bottleneck in plasmonics for many applications. Here we propose and theoretically demonstrate that metal losses can be successfully mitigated with dielectric particles on metallic films, giving rise…
The localized surface plasmon resonance of metallic nanostructures produces strongly localized and enhanced near-field light, significantly contributing to nanophotonics research and applications. Plasmon nanofocusing represents another…
We report the highest compression reached in laboratory plasmas using eight laser beams, E$_{laser}$$\approx$12 kJ, $\tau_{laser}$=2 ns in third harmonic on a CD$_2$ target at the ShenGuang-II Upgrade (SGII-Up) facility in Shanghai, China.…
X-ray assisted nuclear excitation by electron capture (NEEC) into inner-shell atomic holes in a plasma environment generated by strong optical lasers is investigated theoretically. The considered scenario involves the interaction of a…
We show that ulta-dense Z-pinches with nanoscale dimensions can be generated by irradiating aligned nanowires with femtosecond laser pulses of relativistic intensity. Using fully three-dimensional relativistic particle-in-cell simulations…
Nanostructured plasmonic metal systems are known to enhance greatly variety of radiative and nonradiative optical processes, both linear and nonlinear, which are due to the interaction of an electron in a molecule or semiconductor with the…
Laser excitation of nanometer-sized atomic and molecular clusters offers various opportunities to explore and control ultrafast many-particle dynamics. Whereas weak laser fields allow the analysis of photoionization, excited-state…
Fast ignition is an alternative concept of laser fusion in which the task of compressing the fusion pellet to supersolid densities is accomplished by the conventional high energy nanosecond glass lasers and the task of igniting the…
In the present paper we introduce a new accelerator concept for ions. The accelerator is nano-structured and can consist of a range of materials. It is capable of generating large ionic currents at moderate ion energies. The nano-structures…
We report on experimental results in a new regime of a relativistic light-matter interaction employing mid-infrared (3.9-micrometer wavelength) high-intensity femtosecond laser pulses. In the laser generated plasma, the electrons reach…
For developing a laser boron fusion reactor driven by picosecond laser pulses of more than 30 petawatts power, advances are reported about computations for the plasma block generation by the dielectric explosion of the interaction. Further…