Ponderomotive Screening of Nuclear Fusion Reactions Based on Localized Surface Plasmon Resonance

A scheme is presented to catalyze nuclear fusion by the excitation of the localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) of an Au nanobipyramid (NBP) by ultrafast (femtosecond) laser pulses. The effect utilizes the exceptionally high electric field enhancement provided by the Au NBP LSPR, localized to nm^3 volumes and fs time scales, to produce a ponderomotive force that in turn provides for screening energies near the Au NBP tip. Discrete-dipole approximation (DDA) simulations are presented to support the proposed scheme. Calculations made with conservative parameters suggest that the effect should be observable in a laboratory setting using commercially available ultrafast lasers.