Nuclear fusion enhancement by heavy nuclear catalysts

We seek to understand the effect of high electron density in the proximity of a heavy nucleus on the fusion reaction rates in a hot plasma phase. We investigate quantitatively the catalytic effect of gold (Z=79) ions embedded in an electron plasma created due to plasmonic focusing of high-intensity short laser pulses. Using self-consistent strong plasma screening, we find highly significant changes in the inter-nuclear potential of light elements present nearby. For gold, we see a 14keV change in the inter-nuclear potential near the nuclear surface, independent of the long-distance thermal Debye–Hückel screening. The dense polarization cloud of electrons around the gold catalyst leads to a ∼1.5 enhancement of proton–boron (11B) fusion near T=100 keV.