These clusters are superheated suddenly by short, intense laser pulses. The scientists say the clusters represent a bridge between studies of single molecules and studies of bulk materials.
Atomic clusters constitute a form of matter intermediate between molecules and bulk solids.
Continuing along this line, Ditmire and colleagues achieved nuclear fusion from the explosions of deuterium clusters heated with a compact, high-repetition tabletop laser. But the work to date has been exciting, and cluster fusion appears to be a very fruitful new field of study. We have a promising approach to tabletop fusion that may offer an avenue to produce future compact, economical sources of neutrons. The work shows the growing interest in looking at how intense pulses of light interact with small groupings of atoms ranging in size from 10 to 10,000 atoms per cluster, said co-researcher Jason Zweiback. The team used the Livermore Falcon laser, focusing an intense pulse lasting 25 millionths of a billionth of a second into a jet of gas containing trillions of clusters of the heavy hydrogen isotope deuterium.