The enhancement of the fusion reaction rate coefficient induced by energetic protons, which is one of the typical nuclear elastic scattering (NES) effects, was observed in the large helical device (LHD) located at the National Institute for Fusion Science. An intense high purity hydrogen beam (the atomic ratio of the contained deuterium was less than 1 ppm) with ∼170 keV-energy and ∼10 MW-power was injected into a deuterium plasma with the electron temperature ∼9 keV and density ∼1019 m−3. After the hydrogen beam injection, the neutron generation rate by the D(d,n)3He fusion reaction immediately increased, and an increment of over one order of magnitude was observed, even though there was no meaningful ion temperature variation. The reasons for the increment in the neutron generation rate are discussed with reference to the Boltzmann–Fokker–Planck analysis along with LHD experimental data. It is concluded that the increment was induced by the production of energetic deuterons due to the NES of energetic protons.
Experimental investigation on nuclear reactions using a laser-accelerated proton and deuteron beam