X-ray and fusion yields at the impact of atomic clusters on targets

Theoretical curves are given for the power and spectral intensity of the bremsstrahlung radiation generated by the collision of deuterium-tritium clusters, as a function of their radius, mean energy per particle and concentration of particles in the cluster, for different values of the gain parameter G and of the compression parameter F. In order to estimate the importance of the radiative processes, the energy radiated during the time of inertial confinement is compared with the initial energy of the region of impact. We also investigate the spectral distribution of the radiation emitted in the region of impact, both in the low-energy region and for photon energies which are comparable or larger than the plasma temperature T. Then we study the fusion gain for the collision of two clusters, for DT, DD, D3He, p6Li and p11B fusion processes, assuming that the particle concentration is that corresponding to the normal, uncompressed state of the clusters. The gain G is calculated as a function of T for several values of the cluster radius. Moreover, the radius of the clusters for which the gain has the value G=1 is represented as a function of the plasma temperature T, and we determine the incident energy required in the center-of-mass system to obtain a gain G=1 at a temperature T by cluster impact, for the aforementioned fusion processes. The requirement on the incident energy for a gain G=1 by uncompressed cluster impact is of about 1 MJ for the DT reaction, and is very much larger for the other fusion processes. (author)