title: Temperature measurements of fusion plasmas produced by Petawatt-Laser-Irradiated D2 - (3)He or CD4 - (3)He clustering gases.
abstract: Two different methods have been employed to determine the plasma temperature in a laser-cluster fusion experiment on the Texas Petawatt laser. In the first, the temperature was derived from time-of-flight data of deuterium ions ejected from exploding D(2) or CD(4) clusters. In the second, the temperature was measured from the ratio of the rates of two different nuclear fusion reactions occurring in the plasma at the same time: D(d,(3)He)n and (3)He(d,p)(4)He. The temperatures determined by these two methods agree well, which indicates that (i) the ion energy distribution is not significantly distorted when ions travel in the disassembling plasma; (ii) the kinetic energy of deuterium ions, especially the "hottest part" responsible for nuclear fusion, is well described by a near-Maxwellian distribution.
authors: Center for High Energy Density Science, C1510, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas 78712, USA. dws223@physics.utexas.edu
authors: W
authors: W
authors: Bang
authors: M
authors: M
authors: Barbui
authors: A
authors: A
authors: Bonasera
authors: G
authors: G
authors: Dyer
authors: H J
authors: HJ
authors: Quevedo
authors: K
authors: K
authors: Hagel
authors: K
authors: K
authors: Schmidt
authors: F
authors: F
authors: Consoli
authors: R
authors: R
authors: De Angelis
authors: P
authors: P
authors: Andreoli
authors: E
authors: E
authors: Gaul
authors: A C
authors: AC
authors: Bernstein
authors: M
authors: M
authors: Donovan
authors: M
authors: M
authors: Barbarino
authors: S
authors: S
authors: Kimura
authors: M
authors: M
authors: Mazzocco
authors: J
authors: J
authors: Sura
authors: J B
authors: JB
authors: Natowitz
authors: T
authors: T
authors: Ditmire