Thermonuclear Reaction Rate Parameters for d + ⁶Li Reactions

Cross sections of6Li(t,d1)7Li*[0.478] and6Li(t,p1)8Li*[0.981] nuclear reactions in the 0-2 MeV energy range

“…The charge number of Li is relatively small (Z Li = 3), so adding a small amount of this element to DT or D 3 He plasma does not cause a significant increase of radiation losses due to ion-electron scattering. Moreover, in the case of the 6 Li isotope these losses should be partly compensated by an additional nuclear energy released in several exothermic reactions in the 6 Li + D system with the total Q-value of 43 MeV (see, for example, [7]). The majority of this energy (∼ 84%) is carried by charged particles and, thus, it remains in the plasma and sustains the burning.…”

“…In the newly proposed method of ion temperature probe in DT plasma [8] the following diagnostic reactions between 6 Li and the fuel components D and T are expected to be employed. These reactions lead to a formation of the 7 Be * and 7,8 Li * nuclei in their first excited states. They decay by the M1 electromagnetic transition to the respective ground states and emit monochromatic gamma-rays of the well defined energies E γ ( 7 Be * ) = 429 keV, E γ ( 7 Li * ) = 478 keV and E γ ( 8 Li * ) = 981 keV [9].…”

“…Therefore, the objective of this letter is the calculation of cross sections of the 6 Li(t, d 1 ) 7 Li * and 6 Li(t, p 1 ) 8 Li * nuclear reactions at energies E below 2 MeV. Particular attention is paid to finding the cross sections in a low-energy region which determines the major part of the reactivity at thermonuclear temperatures.…”

“…The penetrabilities P β (E + Q β ) in the exit channels d + 7 Li * and p + 8 Li * of the 6 Li + T reactions were evaluated under the assumption that the exit potential barriers are close to those for the d + 7 Li and p + 7 Li systems, respectively. The cluster folding models similar to (5) were used to find the barriers needed.…”

“…The cluster folding models similar to (5) were used to find the barriers needed. These models employ a reliable deuteron wavefunction ϕ d (np) obtained with the realistic NN potential (RSC) [25] and an α + t cluster model wavefunction of 7 Li 7 Li (αt). The latter is calculated with the pair interaction given in [23] and reproduces well the 7 Li nucleus binding energy in the α + t channel and the RMS charge radius.…”