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[Phys-L] Mr. Fusion



Observation of nuclear fusion driven by a pyroelectric crystal
B. Naranjo, J.K. Gimzewski & S. Putterman
NATURE _434_ page 115 (28 APRIL 2005)

While progress in fusion research continues with magnetic and
inertial confinement, alternative approaches such as Coulomb
explosions of deuterium clusters and ultrafast laser plasma
interactions also provide insight into basic processes and
technological applications. However, attempts to produce
fusion in a room temperature solid-state setting, including
cold fusion and bubble fusion, have met with deep
scepticism7. Here we report that gently heating a pyroelectric
crystal in a deuterated atmosphere can generate fusion under
desktop conditions. The electrostatic field of the crystal is
used to generate and accelerate a deuteron beam (>100 keV and
4 nA), which, upon striking a deuterated target, produces a
neutron flux over 400 times the background level. The presence
of neutrons from the reaction D + D ==> 3He (820 keV) + n
(2.45 MeV) within the target is confirmed by pulse shape
analysis and proton recoil spectroscopy. As further evidence
for this fusion reaction, we use a novel time-of-flight
technique to demonstrate the delayed coincidence between the
outgoing a-particle and the neutron. Although the reported
fusion is not useful in the power-producing sense, we
anticipate that the system will find application as a simple
palm-sized neutron generator.
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