Measurement of the plasma astrophysical S factor for the He3(d,p)He4 reaction in exploding molecular clusters

The plasma astrophysical S factor for the He3(d,p)He4 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 He3 atoms. Different proportions of D2 and He3 or CD4 and He3 were mixed in the gas target in order to allow the measurement of the cross section for the He3(d,p)He4 reaction. The yield of 14.7 MeV protons from the He3(d,p)He4 reaction was measured in order to extract the astrophysical S factor at low energies. Our result is in agreement with other S factor parametrizations found in the literature. © 2013 American Physical Society.