  At low energies, nuclear fusion is strongly affected by electron screening of
the Coulomb repulsion among the fusing nuclei. It may thus be possible to
catalyze nuclear fusion in molecules (i.e., to fuse specific nuclei in situ)
through quantum control of electron wave functions in intense laser fields. The
circularly polarized (chiral) laser field can effectively squeeze the electron
wave functions, greatly enhancing the screening in the spatial region relevant
for the fusion process. We estimate the corresponding fusion probabilities, and
find that the proposed chiral catalysis of nuclear fusion in molecules may be
observable, potentially with important practical applications.
