ABSTRACT
Laser-driven ion acceleration with adequately tailored subsequent interactions will complement the portfolio of nuclear reactions so far available from conventionally accelerated particle beams. This chapter will outline a unique perspective for laser-driven nuclear reactions, targeting the astrophysically relevant nucleosynthesis of heavy elements beyond the regime of thermonuclear fusion occurring in stars. A prototypical scenario is studied as achievable with laser systems like the upcoming 10 PW-class lasers at ELI-Nuclear Physics in Bucharest. Following a short introduction, the perspectives originating from the expected uniquely high-density ion bunches accelerated via the radiation pressure acceleration mechanism will be presented. This will allow for a novel nuclear reaction mechanism (‘fission–fusion’), capable of generating extremely neutron-rich isotopes in the vicinity of the astrophysically important ‘waiting point’ of the r-process heavy-element nucleosynthesis path at the waiting point of the magic nucleon number N = 126.
