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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Phys.
Sec. Fusion Plasma Physics
Volume 12 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fphy.2024.1424755
This article is part of the Research Topic Proton Boron Nuclear Fusion: From Energy Production to Medical Applications View all 4 articles

Bayesian Optimization of Proton Generation in Terawatt Laser-CH2 Cluster Interactions within Plasma Channel

Provisionally accepted
Artem Kim Artem Kim *Mordechai Botton Mordechai Botton Arie Zigler Arie Zigler
  • Racah Institute of Physics, Faculty of Science, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Israel

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Improving the energy efficiency in generating high-energy proton or boron ions is crucial for advancing the feasibility of neutronless laser-based proton-boron (p-B 11 ) fusion reaction. The primary objective of this work is to optimize the fusion energy efficiency of a proposed advanced p-B 11 fusion scheme. In the proposed scheme ultrashort laser pulse is guided by plasma channel filled with carbon-hydrogen (CH2) clusters. The MeV protons are generated by Coulomb explosion (CE) of the cluster, which therefore interact with surrounding boron to produce alpha particles. To evaluate the fusion energy efficiency under various conditions, 2D Particle-in-Cell (PIC) simulations are employed, supplemented with analytical calculations and estimations. The Bayesian optimization (BO) algorithm is utilized to optimize the key interaction parameters. The BO approach allows to identify optimal cluster and laser parameters that would have higher fusion energy efficiency.

    Keywords: Proton-boron fusion, High Intensity Laser, Laser-plasma acceleration, Coulomb explosion, Bayesian optimization

    Received: 28 Apr 2024; Accepted: 26 Aug 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Kim, Botton and Zigler. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Artem Kim, Racah Institute of Physics, Faculty of Science, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, 91904, Jerusalem, Israel

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.