Nuclear-physics aspects of controlled thermonuclear fusion: Analysis of promising fuels and gamma-ray diagnostics of hot plasma

A brief survey of nuclear-physics aspects of the problems of controlled the rmonuclear fusion is given. Attention is paid primarily to choosing and ana lyzing an optimal composition of a nuclear fuel, reliably extrapolating the cross sections for nuclear reactions to the region of low energies, and ex ploring gamma-ray methods (as a matter of fact, very promising methods inde ed) for diagnostics of hot plasmas (three aspects that are often thought to be the most important ones). In particular, a comparative nuclear-physics analysts of hydrogen, DT, and DD thermonuclear fuels and of their alternati ves in the form of (DHe)-He-3, (DLi)-Li-6, (DTLi)-Li-6, (HLi)-Li-6, (HB)-B- 11, and (HBe)-Be-9 is performed. Their advantages and disadvantages are hig hlighted; a spin-polarized fuel is considered; and the current status of nu clear data on the processes of interest is analyzed. A procedure for determ ining cross sections for nuclear reactions in the deep-subbarrier region is discussed. By considering the example of low-energy D + Li-6 intel actions , it is shown that, at ion temperatures below 100 keV, the inclusion of nuc lear-structure factors leads to an additional enhancement of the rate param eters (sigmav) for the (d,pt) and (d,n tau) channels by 10-40%. The possibi lity of using nuclear reactions that lead to photon emission as a means for determining the ion temperature of a thermonuclear plasma is discussed. (C ) 2000 MAIK "Nauka/Interperiodica".