Speaker
Description
In hydrogen isotopic mixtures, stopped muons form tightly bound exotic molecules in which nuclear fusion proceeds rapidly, as the muon’s large mass enhances Coulomb barrier penetration between the nuclei. Following fusion, the muon is typically released and can repeat the process until it decays or becomes stuck to a final-state helium nucleus, with over 100 fusions per muon having been observed under select experimental conditions. Notably, previous measurements of muon-catalyzed deuterium-tritium fusion exhibit significant discrepancies across measured alpha-sticking probability values, and additionally the density-dependence of the cycling rate is poorly described by theory. Lying at the intersection of nuclear, particle, and atomic physics, muon-catalyzed fusion has recently received renewed experimental and theoretical interest along with new consideration of its technological potential. The MuFusE experiment is investigating the kinetics of muon-catalyzed fusion under extended thermodynamic conditions achieved with a custom-designed diamond-anvil cell beam target capable of compressing hydrogen mixtures up to 1 GPa and heating the mixture to more than 400 K. The experiment is instrumented with an array of neutron, muon, and decay-electron detectors to observe the products from the process, measure fusion cycling rates, and determine muon loss probabilities. Additionally, an optical diagnostic system monitors the gas conditions in situ. This talk will present an overview of the MuFusE experiment’s status and progress along with supporting theoretical work, and our observations of muon-catalyzed deuterium-deuterium and deuterium-tritium fusion at novel thermodynamic conditions achieved during our beam campaigns to date at the Paul Scherrer Institute.