Erlangen 2026 – scientific programme

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MP: Fachverband Theoretische und Mathematische Grundlagen der Physik

MP 10: Strong Fields

MP 10.1: Talk

Thursday, March 19, 2026, 13:45–14:00, KH 02.013

Dynamically assisted nuclear fusion — Daniil Ryndyk^1,3, Christian Kohlfürst¹, Friedemann Queisser¹, and •Ralf Schützhold^1,2 — ¹Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf, Bautzner Landstraße 400, 01328 Dresden, Germany — ²Institut für Theoretische Physik, Technische Universität Dresden, 01062 Dresden, Germany — ³Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH, Wilhelm-Johnen-Straße, 52428 Jülich, Germany

We study the enhancement of tunneling through a potential barrier, such as the Coulomb potential in nuclear fusion, by an additional electromagnetic field, such as an x-ray free electron laser (XFEL). In addition to the known effects of pre-acceleration and potential deformation already present in the adiabatic regime, as well as energy mixing in analogy to the Franz-Keldysh effect in the non-adiabatic regime, the field can enhance tunneling by pushing part of the wave function out of the rear end of the barrier. We find that the XFEL field strengths required for these dynamical assistance mechanisms are challenging, but still well below the Schwinger critical field.

[1] F. Queisser and R. Schützhold, Dynamically assisted nuclear fusion, Phys. Rev. C 100, 041601(R) (2019)

[2] C. Kohlfürst, F. Queisser and R. Schützhold, Dynamically assisted tunneling in the impulse regime, Phys. Rev. Research 3, 033153 (2021)

[3] D. Ryndyk, C. Kohlfürst, F. Queisser, and R. Schützhold, Dynamically assisted tunneling in the Floquet picture, Phys. Rev. Research 6, 023056 (2024)

Keywords: strong fields