Nuclear fusion is regularly created in spherical plasma compressions driven by multi-kilojoule pulses from the world's largest lasers. Here we demonstrate a dense fusion environment created by irradiating arrays of deuterated nanostructures with joule-level pulses from a compact ultrafast laser. The irradiation of ordered deuterated polyethylene nanowires arrays with femtosecond pulses of relativistic intensity creates ultra-high energy density plasmas in which deuterons (D) are accelerated up to MeV energies, efficiently driving D-D fusion reactions and ultrafast neutron bursts. We measure up to 2 × 10⁶ fusion neutrons per joule, an increase of about 500 times with respect to flat solid targets, a record yield for joule-level lasers. Moreover, in accordance with simulation predictions, we observe a rapid increase in neutron yield with laser pulse energy. The results will impact nuclear science and high energy density research and can lead to bright ultrafast quasi-monoenergetic neutron point sources for imaging and materials studies.

中文翻译：

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致密的相对论纳米线阵列等离子体中的微尺度融合。

核聚变通常是由来自世界上最大的激光器的多焦耳脉冲驱动的球形等离子体压缩产生的。在这里，我们展示了一个紧凑的融合环境，该环境是通过使用紧凑型超快激光器的焦耳级脉冲辐照氘化纳米结构的阵列而创建的。用相对论强度的飞秒脉冲对有序的氘代聚乙烯纳米线阵列进行辐照会产生超高能量密度的等离子体，其中氘原子（D）被加速至MeV能量，从而有效地驱动DD聚变反应和超快中子爆发。我们测量高达2×10 ⁶聚变中子每焦耳，相对于平面固体靶，增加了约500倍，焦耳级激光器的创纪录收率。此外，根据模拟预测，我们观察到中子产率随激光脉冲能量的快速增加。这些结果将影响核科学和高能量密度研究，并可能导致用于成像和材料研究的明亮的超快准单能中子点源。