In this work, the effects of femtosecond laser irradiation and doping with plasmonic gold nanorods on the degree of conversion (DC) of a urethane dimethacrylate (UDMA)–triethylene glycol dimethacrylate (TEGDMA) nanocomposite were investigated. The UDMA-TEGDMA photopolymer was prepared in a 3:1 weight ratio and doped with dodecanethiol- (DDT) capped gold nanorods of 25 × 75 or 25 × 85 nm nominal diameter and length. It was found that the presence of the gold nanorods alone (without direct plasmonic excitation) can increase the DC of the photopolymer by 6–15%. This increase was found to be similar to what could be achieved with a control heat treatment of 30 min at 180 °C. It was also shown that femtosecond laser impulses (795 nm, 5 mJ pulse energy, 50 fs pulse length, 2.83 Jcm⁻² fluence), applied after the photopolymerization under a standard dental curing lamp, can cause a 2–7% increase in the DC of undoped samples, even after thermal pre-treatment. The best DC values (12–15% increase) were obtained with combined nanorod doping and subsequent laser irradiation close to the plasmon resonance peak of the nanorods (760–800 nm), which proves that the excited plasmon field can directly facilitate double bond breakage (without thermoplasmonic effects due to the short pulse length) and increase the crosslink density independently from the initial photopolymerization process.

In this brief report, we present laser induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) evidence of deuterium (D) production in a 3:1 urethane dimethacrylate (UDMA) and triethylene glycol dimethacrylate (TEGDMA) polymer doped with resonant gold nanorods, induced by intense, 40 fs laser pulses. The in situ recorded LIBS spectra revealed that the D/(2D + H) increased to 4–8% in the polymer samples in selected events. The extent of transmutation was found to linearly increase with the laser pulse energy (intensity) between 2 and 25 mJ (up to 3 × 10¹⁷W/cm²). The observed effect is attributed only to the field enhancing effects due to excited localized surface plasmons on the gold nanoparticles.

The NanoPlasmonic Laser Induced Fusion Energy (NAPLIFE)¹ project proposed fusion by regulating the laser light absorption via resonant nanorod antennas implanted into hydrogen rich urethane acrylate methacrylate (UDMA) and triethylene glycol dimethylacrylate (TEGDMA) copolymer targets. In part of the tests, boron-nitride (BN) was added to the polymer. Our experiments with resonant nanoantennas accelerated protons up to 225 keV energy. Some of these protons then led to p + ¹¹B fusion, indicated by the sharp drop of observed backward proton emission numbers at the 150 keV resonance energy of the reaction. The generation of alpha particles was verified by CR-39 (Columbia Resin #39) nuclear plastic track detectors.

A status report is presented about the Nanoplasmonic Laser Induced Fusion Experiment (NAPLIFE). The goal is to investigate and verify plasmonically enhanced phenomena on the surfaces of nanoantennas embedded in a polymer target at laser intensities up to a few times ${10}^{16}$ W/cm${}^2$ and pulse durations of 40–120 fs. The first results on enhanced crater formation for Au-doped polymer targets are shown, and SERS signals typical for ${\mathrm{CD}}_2$ and $\mathrm{ND}$ bound vibrations are cited. Trials to detect $\mathrm{D}/\mathrm{H}$ ratio by means of LIBS measurments are reported. Plasmonics has the potential to work at these intensities, enhancing the energy and deuterium production, due to thus far unknown mechanisms.

Hanbury-Brown and Twiss analysis is used to determine the size and timespan of emitted particles. Here, we propose to adapt this method for laser-induced nanoplasmonic inertial confinement fusion to determine the parameters of emitted Deuterium and Helium⁴ nuclei. This communication is a short article that presents part of a larger study over multiple years. It presents a cutting edge method that is new in the field of Inertial Confinement Fusion.

Surface plasmon polaritons are the light of the nanoworld, with a broad spectrum of special properties. These properties open the field for a high number of applications, both in the fields of low and high intensities. In polymer samples, localized surface plasmon polaritons (LSPPs) have been resonantly excited by ultrashort (n. 10 fs), high intensity (up to n. 10¹⁷ W/cm²) pulses of a Ti:Sa laser on gold nanoparticles, implanted into the transparent polymer, and this the laser shots created craters. The volume of these craters is presented as the function of the exciting laser intensity for the samples with and without resonant gold nanoparticles, and the creation of deuterium in the nanoparticle-seeded sample was studied with Raman and laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS). The preliminary data indicate significant energy production and nuclear transmutation (hydrogen to deuterium), clearly proving the decisive role of the unique properties of the LSPPs. Preliminary data of some nuclear (CR-39) methods are also described. Thompson parabola energy analysis of particles after laser shots indicates proton–boron fusion reaction.