Michael E Donovan

TL;DR: Simulations indicate that with improvements in the laser-pulse focus quality, acceleration to nearly 10 GeV should be possible with the available pulse energy, and the principal physical barriers to multi-gigaelectronvolt acceleration are overcome.

TL;DR: This work reports on a novel compact laser-driven neutron source with an unprecedented short pulse duration and high peak flux, an order of magnitude higher than any existing source, that opens venues for enhancing neutron radiography contrast and for creating astrophysical conditions of heavy element synthesis in the laboratory.

TL;DR: These results represent major milestones towards the goal of creating a significant quantity of dense pair-dominated plasmas with e+/e− approaching 100% and pair skin depth ≪ pair plasma size, which will have wide-ranging applications to astrophysics and fundamental physics.

TL;DR: The plasma astrophysical S factor for the 3He(d,p)4He fusion reaction was measured for the first time at temperatures of few keV, using the interaction of intense ultrafast laser pulses with molecular deuterium clusters mixed with 3He atoms.

TL;DR: 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; and (ii) the kinetic energy of deuterium ions, especially the "hottest part" responsible for nuclear fusion, is well described by a near-Maxwellian distribution.