The kinetics of muon-catalyzed dt fusion

A main source of information about the muon-catalyzed fusion cycle in D-T mixtures are the cycling rates _c, which are characteristic for the kinetic equilibrium of states attained rapidly in dense targets. The measurement, analysis and interpretation of these rates will be discussed, concentrating on the extensive set of rates observed at PSI over the last decade in gaseous, liquid and solid targets.Invited talk presented by Peter Kammel.     

Numerical characterization of high harmonic attosecond pulses

A numerical simulation of attosecond harmonic pulse generation in a three-dimensional field-ionizing gas is presented. Calculated harmonic efficiencies quantitatively reproduce experimental findings. This allows a quantitative characterization of attosecond pulse generation revealing information currently not accessible by experiment. The rapid phase variation and spatiotemporal distortions of harmonics are smaller than anticipated, allowing focusing of 30-nm, 750-as pulses to intensities in excess of 10(13) W/cm(2). Feasibility of such pulses brings novel applications such as extreme ultraviolet nonlinear optics and attosecond pump probe spectroscopy within reach.     

Attosecond cross correlation technique

A technique for the measurement of attosecond, extreme-ultraviolet pulses is proposed and theoretically analyzed that is based on cross correlation of the attosecond pulse with a strong laser pulse in a gas target. Pulse durations on the time scale of a fraction of the optical period can be resolved. The method is linear in the extreme-ultraviolet intensity, which ensures high efficiency and applicability for wavelengths to below 10 nm.     

Internal momentum state mapping using high harmonic radiation

We numerically demonstrate so-far undescribed features in ionization and high harmonic generation from bound states with nonvanishing electronic angular momentum. The states' modified response to a strong laser pulse can be exploited for novel measurement and pulse production schemes. It is shown that angularly asymmetric tunneling from the states can be mapped onto variations of high harmonic intensities and that near-circularly polarized isolated attosecond extreme ultraviolet or x-ray pulses can be produced.     

Experimental results on muon-catalyzed dt fusion

A comprehensive experimental study of the kinetics of muon-catalyzed dt fusion has been conducted at PSI, based on the measurement of the 14 MeV neutrons from the fusion process. The target conditions included densities from 1–150% of the atomic density of liquid hydrogen, relative tritium concentrations of 2–95%, and temperatures of 13–300 K. Information about the dt cycle has been obtained from the measured neutron time distributions by different methods: Monte Carlo simulations primarily aimed at investigating epithermal effects in molecular formation and the determination and interpretation of cycling rates describing the steady state regime.