Billion-times more efficient fusion unlocked with low-frequency laser

Researchers have discovered that intense low-frequency lasers, such as near-infrared solid-state lasers, can significantly enhance nuclear fusion efficiency by lowering the extreme temperature requirements traditionally needed for controlled fusion. Contrary to prior assumptions favoring high-energy X-ray lasers, these low-frequency lasers enable multi-photon interactions during nuclear collisions, broadening the collision energy distribution and greatly increasing the probability of quantum tunneling through the Coulomb barrier. This mechanism allows fusion reactions to occur more readily at much lower energies than previously thought possible. Using the Deuterium-Tritium fusion reaction as a benchmark, the study shows that applying intense low-frequency laser fields can boost fusion probabilities by several orders of magnitude. For instance, at a collision energy of 1 keV—normally too low for effective fusion—the use of a 1.55 eV laser at intensities of 10^20 to 5×10^21 W/cm² can increase fusion rates by factors ranging from 1,000 to a billion times.