Potential for suprathermal chain reactions in degenerate deuterium plasmas at high densities

Abstract It is argued that fusion chain reactions in the D-D system are feasible with supra-thermal deuterons in the MeV regime, with new generations of deuterons being generated either via neutron-deuteron and proton-deuteron collisions, provided that fuel densities in excess of 1000 gcm −3 are reached. The propagation of supra-thermal deuterons in an infinite, dense deuterium target was studied using a Monte Carlo method that includes multiple nuclear reactions, electron and ion stopping, along with neutron and proton knock-ons. Prior studies into this system are extended and it is shown that : (a)dense pure deuterium may be more supportive of chain reactions via refinements to the ion-ion stopping number, (b) such chain reactions can be supported even when the target is electron degenerate, and (c) the D-T reaction plays a critical role in sustaining these chain reactions.