Nuclear fusion induced by X-rays in a crystal

Well it is a nicely written paper with experimental results much better analysed than is typical for LENR. This is not LENR, since 100kev gammas are hardly low energy!

What I like is the nice quantitative theoretical analysis with approximations noted, and the quantitative experiment where theory and experiment can be compared. I'd be happier with a control to make sure that the CR-39 high energy tracks were not actually generated by the x-rays, but since this result is sort of expected there is no particular reason to think they've got this wrong.

Compare this with the various LENR speculations about getting fusion in lattices from em radiation!

Tom

Very interesting article. The details about Columbia resin etching are very useful also.
I remember that Dr. Miller was attending an RCCNT-BL meeting at Dagomys. This paper is a proof that it is possible to convert EM wave energy (X-rays, in this paper) into excitation of the nuclei, leading to fusion. (upgrading of Karabut)
The invert process is also possible, according to Dr. Hagelstein.

It is interesting to note that one fusion event produce 24 MeV.
To promote one fusion , we only need around 5 keV.
If these 24 MeV are converted into lower energy quanta, it will be possible to promote a lot of subsequent new fusion events.

It is not exactly broadband spectrum. The YXLON x-ray tube Y.TU225-D02 is mainly used for non-destructive control in industry. With 225 kV and a spot of 1.0 x 5.5 mm, the metal of the target is probably tungsten. So the main wavelenght is the K line at 59 keV. (I don't know the shielding metal).

I like this experiment because it is very simple. Of course, I suppose that they had made a control experiment. Polonium contamination of the LiD is not impossible, if the sample came from decommissioned weapons, with an old-timer style neutron generator for the primary stage. (Radium lead to radon, and this gas diffuse and gives polonium. (The radon dissolve itself in hydrophobic material like oils, and also dissolves in ...the silicon of the O-rings...) The LiD is not hydrophobic, but it could probably absorb radon.

I agree with Lou : It will be very interesting to reproduce the experiment in a synchroton X-ray source facility like « Soleil », with a scanning in energy, and -of course- a powerful cooling of the LiD target. Despite this cooling, it will be a strong atomic hydrogen production, leading to a change of the properties of the polycarbonate, but it don't mind.

Regarding the discrete breathers, they are useful in our field by their counterpart, which I call the « Freezers » : a place of a cristal where the average energy of the atoms is well under the average energy.

This paper has been published in the main physics journal: Physical Review
Phys. Rev. C93, 034622 (2016)

I agree with Thomas. Interesting but not useful for energy production.

Here is a quote from the discussion:
"Apparently, the fusion rate turned out to be too low for any possible applications of this process in energy production."

That statement was written in the paper just to get it published. As you know, for the last 26 years (since the 1989 scandal) any paper, even remotely related to cold fusion, was immediately rejected by all serious journals.
What actually was observed: 88 events (22 MeV each) in 0.61 gramm of LiD crystal during 100 hours. As it is written in the paper, not all events were registered: only about 40% of events that occur in the immediate vicinity of the detectors. But for energy production, we do not need to register events. They would release the energy regardless our ability to register them.
So, if we take 1 kilogram of LiD ( the same X-ray source can cover such a sample), the number of Li-D pairs will be 1000 times greater (the number of events will also be three orders of magnitude greater). Further, we can take pure Li6-D compound (with 100% of Li6 isotope). This will give another factor 100 (two orders of magnitude). One more thing: the penetration through the Coulomb barrier increases exponentially with the energy. In the experiment described in the paper, the maximal energy of the x-rays was 100 keV. What if we take 150 keV? Perhaps we can get a five-order of magnitude factor?
In total, we can increase the energy release by ten orders of magnitude. This means that more research is needed.

Rakitsa wrote "In total, we can increase the energy release by ten orders of magnitude. This means that more research is needed."

Which is why the statement to the contrary

""Apparently, the fusion rate turned out to be too low for any possible applications of this process in energy production."

was necessary to get the paper through peer review.

Much of peer review is about preserving funding for unsurprising status-quo - research.

Despite such peer review lenr research of the last 25 years has now reached critical mass.

The barrier is not 100 keV, it is around 1 MeV, but it is sufficient to have 10-100 keV to tunnel through this barrier. For example, the energy of protons inside the sun (and other stars) is only 1.3 keV (which corresponds to 15 million degrees of temperature), but this is enough for the sun to shine.
I would suggest another approach to the theory of LENR in Palladium: similarly to the paper on x-ray induced fusion, the deuterons in Palladium are excited by the electrons that carry the current through the crystal.

I suggest you to read the paper. The idea is very simple: a nucleus in a crystal is in a potential well, where there are energy levels. When exposed to external electro-magnetic wave, nucleus jumps to a higher level from which it is easier to penetrate through the barrier (because it is thinner there). In simple words: the electromagnetic wave forces the nuclei oscillate around their equilibrium positions, and the acquired kinetic energy helps them to tunnel through the barrier. No non-linear effects, no breathers etc. We should not introduce complications when it is not necessary.

To Lou Pagnucco:
Definitely, the effect will increase exponentially with the energy. This is because the barrier penetration exponentially increases. It is enough to look at Fig.8 of the paper to see that at higher excitations the barrier becoms much thinner. As to the paper which you cited, I just quickly looked at it (without going to all the details) and see that it has nothing to do with crystals. It is about a gas. In a gas, molecules behave individually and when interacted with photons, they get recoil (which is not the case for a crystal). As a result of the recoil the spectrum of the photons is broadening. In a crystal, momentum conservation can be ignored because whole crystal can compensate any change in momentum. One example is the Mosbauer effect, where nuclei absorb photons without recoil.

Rakitsa said "It is enough to look at Fig.8 of the paper to see that at higher excitations .."
It does look like that.

Equation 16 = 14.2 MEV... What would the calculation be for higher T like 973?

Of course this method would not be able to test at that T.. but is great at room T for a range of hydrides, deuterides

To Robert:
Sorry, one remark; in Eq.(16) the units are meV (milli-electron-volts) - not MeV. You can easily calculate yourself the average deuteron energy for any temperature T, using Eqs.(16,15,9). Of course, this is under the assumption that the system is in thermodynamical equilibrium (no x-rays) and is described by the Boltzmann distribution.

Thanks for your advice. I calculated at 873 degrees K that for deuterium the average energy level for deuterons is higher than 14 meV but still only about 300 meV.
The staircase of small steps give a method by which terahertz radiation can contribute to giving the deuteron 100 keV.
The lower step changes are definitely in the Terahertz range.

However the higher last step changes of 15 eV for De and 9 eV for Li are definitely in the uv range.

Is it possible that a spectrum of uv laser light(80 nm to 140nm) would give similar results to these xrays?

To Robert:
In principle, by absorbing many "small" quanta of radiation the deuteron can climb up the ladder of the levels. However, to give a definite answer, one needs to solve the master equation with a given spectrum of uv radiation. The radiation causes not only moving up the ladder, but also jumping down (like in lasers). There are therefore competing processes (up and down) caused by external radiation. Moreover, there are spontaneous jumps down. This means that without calculations it is difficult to say something.