Posts by Engvild

Is submission to the journal JCMNS still closed? Mails to [email protected] are returned.

Testeng the Holmlid D-D separation of 0.023 angstrom on a time-of-flight mass spectrometer?

A low voltage tof mass spectometer with laser ionization might possibly be used to verify the D⁺ at 630 eV, which is the basis for Holmlids proposal of superdense deuterium. A sample of deuterium satjurated FeO(K) catylyst is ionized in the spectrometer, run at at low acceleration voltage (100V). A D⁺ signal should then precede all other ions such as H⁺. By ionization of other deuterium saturated materials like PdD, TiD₂, ZrD₂, LaD₃, one could verify that a 630 eV signal is independent of matrix, and therefore probably caused by a coulomb explosion of two D's very close together.

Quote from Curbina

What can I say Engvild , LENR unfortunately doesn’t lend itself to be interpreted through the classical nuclear science rationale, so applying that rationale to the design of experiments often fails. As was seen in the case of Fralick in 1989, they did the experiments expecting to see neutrons, and “only” obtained anomalous heat, so they dismissed the results. It took decades for them to realize the anomalous heat was indeed possibly related to nuclear effects.

I agree, but also disagree. When you have unusual experimental results, you have to verify that they are real. Then you have to find an explanation, maybe even a new theory. But in the end it is better when the new "theory" can be fitted into the conventional physics universe.

I have been retired for many years, and my department has been closed, so I don't have access to a laboratory.

I have been folllowing the LENR field since the very beginning and I remember fondly the great excitement and the bubbling of new ideas. I did a few experiments on a chain reaction hypothesis: ⁶Li + n --> ⁴He + T, T + D --> ⁴He + n. I did not see anhything. I have done a few other experiments later, also without seeing anything.

A Deuterium Glow Discharge with a ZrD₂ Cathode on the Wall for Checking the Putative Fusion D + D à ⁴He + Heat

Kjeld C. Engvild, DTU Environment, DK-4000 Roskilde, Denmark

A fusion reaction of D + D à ⁴He + heat has been proposed repeatedly in LENR experiments where helium is typically found in high amounts, tritium in low amounts, and only few neutrons; the heat evolution corresponds to the amount of helium, observed in both electrolysis and glow discharge experiments. The D + D à ⁴He + Q reaction is not recognized in physics, as there is no obvious mechanism for converting MeV energy directly into heat. A deuterium glow discharge “lamp” with a cathode consisting of a deuterated zirconium foil fitted snugly to the tube wall and an anode in the center might be used to investigate putative excess heat by classical water calorimetry. The lamp should be operated at as low pressure and current as feasible, with proper precautions against X- and gamma-rays.

In 2015 Dalkarov et al. published experiments on low energy hydrogen isotope bombardment of titanium and titanium deuteride water cooled targets at 10-50 keV and a few watts. At deuteron bombardment on titanium deuteride at one watt the temperature rose about 80 degrees C; when bombarding titanium with protons, the temperature rose only about 20 degrees. Have Dalkarov et al observed fusion reactions at four times above break-even? They themselves asked the question: do we have a D + D à ⁴He + Q reaction? Such a reaction is not recognized in physics, as there is no obvious mechanism for converting MeV energy directly into heat. However, there have been numerous results in LENR literature that heat evolution corresponds to ⁴He production, while the production of tritium is quite low and there are only very few neutrons (review Storms, 2012). This has been observed in many electrolysis experiments, but also in glow discharge experiments (Karabut et al. 1992).

Perhaps the Daskalov experiment could be replicated in a simple manner in a special low pressure glow discharge “lamp” with a large area cathode in close contact with the tube wall.

A tube filled with deuterium, a center tungsten anode, a cathode connected to a foil of zirconium, electrolytically loaded with deuterium to almost ZrD₂ is fitted snugly to the wall. The “lamp” should be run at as low pressure and current as feasible to obtain as long free deuteron path as possible. Proper precautions against X- and gamma rays should be taken. Heat evolution is measured by simple water calorimetry in a Dewar.

A claim of D + D à ⁴He + heat is dismissed by the physics community, as there is no obvious mechanism for converting MeV energy into heat. A possibility might be a three-body reaction (Takahashi et al. 1999, Kasagi et al. 1995, 2002, Engvild 1998) between three deuterons that interact with the metal lattice. An incoming deuteron interacts with two D’s and form an extended Efimov assembly of three D’s (Ferlaino and Grimm 2010, Naidon and Endo 2017). The assembly knocks on the atoms in the lattice, and it is sometimes elevated to the next Efimov state at higher energy, but with a size of only 1/22 of the former state (Ferlaino and Grimm 2010). Three D’s so close together would fuse almost instantaneously, most often:

D + D + D à (^D_D^D) à ⁴He + D,

but also, rarely à (^D_D^D) à  ³He + T.

Neutrons would only be formed in secondary reactions with accelerated tritons and deuterons.

References

Dalkarov OD, Negodaev MA, Rusetskii AS. 2015. Investigation of heat release in the targets during irradiation by ion beams. Lebedev Institute, arXiv preprint, arXiv.

Engvild KC. 1998. Nuclear reaction by three-body recombination between deuterons and the nuclei of lattice trapped D₂ molecules. Fus. Technol. 34, 253-255.

Ferlaino, F, Grimm, R. 2010. Forty years of Efimov physics: How a bizarre prediction turned into a hot topic. Physics 3, 9.

Karabut AB, Kucherov YaR, Savvatimova IB. 1992. Nuclear product ratio for glow discharge in deuterium. Phys Lett A 170, 265-292.

Kasagi J, Ohtsuki T, Ishii K, Hiraga M, 1995. Energetic protons and α particles emitted in 150-keV deuteron bombardment on deuterated Ti. J. Phys Soc. Japan 64, 777-783.

Kasagi J, Yuki H, Baba T, Noda T, Ohtsuki T, Lipson AG, 2002. Strongly enhanced DD fusion in metals observed for keV D⁺ bombardment. J. Phys. Soc. Japan 71, 2881-2885.

Naidon P. Endo S. 2017. Efimov physics: a review. Rep. Prog. Phys. 85, 056001.

Storms E. 2012. A student’s guide to cold fusion. https://lenr-canr.org/acrobat/StormsEastudentsg.pdf.

Takahashi AK, Maruta K, Ochiai K, Miyamaru H. 1999. Detection of three-body deuteron fusion in titanium deuteride under the stimulation by a deuteron beam. Phys. Lett. A 255, 89-97.

Replication of Deuterium Fusion four times above Break-even?

In 2015 Dalkarov, Negodaev and Rusetskii (1, attached) reported a heat release about 4 times higher when a titanium deuteride target was irradiated with a deuterium beam, than when a titanium target was irradiated with a proton beam. The beam energies were quite low, in the range of 10-25 keV. Below is figure 2 from their paper on the temperature rise on the wall of water-cooled targets.

To my knowledge this work has not been followed up, neither by the group themselves nor by others. A replication is badly needed, because it may be a solution to the worlds energy problems. Most of the world’s particle accelerators operate at too high energies, except where people study fusion reactions in stars. Perhaps very small particle accelerators for teaching purposes could be used. Or perhaps laser induced particle acceleration would work.

Dalkarov et al (1) suggest that the heat might come from D + D à ⁴He + Heat.

Such a fusion reaction without neutrons is not recognized in physics. However, in the literature there are many examples of heat release when deuterium is subjected to “dynamic” confinement in metals, for example in a major part of the cold fusion literature. Other examples are the D + D + D à ⁴He + D reactions of Takahshi (2) and Kasagi (3) and the heat release found by Holmberg (4) after laser acceleration of deuterium. Perhaps a DD or DDD (Efimov) intermediate might interact with the dense electrons in the metal, or step on the nuclei in the metal lattice.

References

(1) O. D. Dalkarov, M. A. Negodaev, A. S. Rusetskii, ”Investigation of heat release in the targets during irradiation by ion beams”. Lebedev Institute, arXiv preprint arXiv. 2015.

(2) A. Takahashi, K. Maruta, K. Ochiai, H. Miyamaru, “Detection of three-body deuteron fusion in titanium deuteride under the stimulation by a deuteron beam”. Phys. Lett. A 235, 89-97. 1999.

(3) J. Kasagi, T. Ohtsugi, K. Ishii, M. Hiraga, “Energetic protons and α particles emitted in 150-keV deuteron bombardment on deuterated Ti”. J. Phys. Soc. Japan 64, 777-783. 1995.

(4) L. Holmlid, “Heat generation above break-even from laser induced fusion in ultra-dense deuterium”. AIP Advances, 5, 087129. 2015.

D-D fusion above break-even?

Has deuterium fusion about four times above break-even already been observed in 2015??

In 2015, a preprint by Dalkarov, Negodaev, and Rusetskii “Investigation of heat release in the targets during irradiation by ion beams” (file attached).

As I read the paper the team has observed a temperature increase to 100 degrees centigrade in a TiD_x target irradiated with a deuterium beam at one watt in. When Ti was irradiated with a hydrogen beam the temperature rose about 20 degrees centigrade.

In my book this means that Deuterium fusion has caused a temperature increase of about 80 degrees above the heat deposited by the beam, or about four times the heat deposited!

I realize that this argument is extremely rough. The target seems to be cooled by flowing water, so temperatures are quite uncertain. The team’s mechanism proposal, I have not seen anywhere else (equation (4)): d + d à  ⁴He + Q (24 MeV)

I think it is extremely important that this work be repeated, and with better calorimetry as already proposed by the authors. We may be sitting on a solution to the world’s energy problems.

Laser Deuterium Fusion Target should perhaps be on Reaction Chamber

Wallt o Enable Enthalpy Transfer to Water/Steam

Kjeld C. Engvild

DTU Environment, Technical University of Denmark

DK-4000 Roskilde, Denmark

Both magnetic confinement and laser inertial fusion operate with temperatures of a million degrees Kelvin in the middle of a very large reaction chamber. Even if break-even has been achieved the problem of transferring the enthalpy to a medium outside of the chamber and converting it to electricity remains. Perhaps, sustainable deuterium fusion could be achieved by letting tabletop laser accelerated deuterium impact a Zirconium deuteride layer on the wall of a narrow hohlraum or pinhole in a tube surrounded by water.

A pulsed laser with 10¹² watt/cm² [1] to 10²⁰ watt/cm² [2] in the focus is accelerating deuterium into Zirconium deuteride. The deuterium gas is at 0.0001 to 1 bar. Some of the neutrons produced are scavenged by boron and ³He. The enthalpy production is followed by simple calorimetry. The Zirconium deuteride could be replaced by other compounds with better electronic screening for fusion such as palladium or nickel [3], or by palladium oxide [4] or iron oxide [1].

The scheme above should describe a system with a heat evolution around break-even according to [1]. Other papers on deuteron fusion at low energies describe particles at unexpected high en energy levels [5,6].

Possible reactions in the system:

D + D à T + H; D + D à ³He + n; D + T à  ⁴He + n; ³He + n à T + H;

D + D à ⁴He + gamma, or ⁴He + e^- ; H + D à ³He + gamma, or ³He + e^- [7]

n + ¹⁰B à  ⁷Li + ⁴He; n + ¹¹B à  ¹²B à  ¹²C + e⁺

D + D + D à (^D_D^D) à  ⁴He + D; D + D + D à (^D_D^D) à ³He + T; Efimov intermediate [5,6,8]

[1] L. Holmlid, “Heat generation above break-even from laser induced fusion in ultra-dense deuterium”. AIP Advances, 5, 087129. 2015.

[2] A. Alejo, H. Ahmed, A. Green, S. R. Mirfayzi, M. Borghesi, S. Kar, ”Recent advances in laser-driven neutron sources” . Nuovo Cimento 38 C, 188. 2015.

[3] F. Raiola, P. Migliardi, L. Gang, C. Bonomo, G. Gyürky, R. Bonetti et al., ”Electron screening in d(d,p)t for deuterated metals and the periodic table”. Phys. Lett. B 547,193-199. 2002.

[4] J. Kasagi, H. Yuki, T. Baba, T. Noda, T. Ohtsuki, A. G. Lipson, “Strongly enhanced DD fusion in metals observed for keV D⁺ bombardment”. J. Phys. Soc. Japan 71, 2881-2885. 2002.

[5] A. Takahashi, K. Maruta, K. Ochiai, H. Miyamaru, “Detection of three-body deuteron fusion in titanium deuteride under the stimulation by a deuteron beam”. Phys. Lett. A 235, 89-97. 1999.

[6] J. Kasagi, T. Ohtsugi, K. Ishii, M. Hiraga, “Energetic protons and α particles emitted in 150-keV deuteron bombardment on deuterated Ti”. J. Phys Soc. Japan 64, 777-783.1995.

[7] M. Lipoglavsek, S. Markelj, M. Mihovilovic, T. Petrovic, S. Stajner, M. Vencelj, J. Vesic, ”Observation of electron emission in nuclear reaction between protons and deuterons”. Phys. Lett. B 773, 553-556. 2017.

[8] P. Naidon, S. Endo, “Efimov physics: a review.” Rep. Prog. Phys. Vol 85, 056001. 2017.

Cold fusion and Holmlid (fusion?) effect are very different, but they share an important characteristic: heat is high, the number of neutrons very low, almost nil. In cold fusion the heat seems proportianal to the number of alpha's, in the Holmlid effect heat seems proportional to the number of charged particles. In both cases the physics is not well understood, in my opinion. If the Holmlid effect is real, it might have the better chance of becoming a viable source of energy.

It is worth noting that the several PhD students/postdocs around Holmlid seem all to have left the field. Some of them, such as Badiei, Patrik Andersson, and Frans Olofsson have been first authors on various aspects of superdense deuterium. If it might be possible to have simple deuterion fusion above break-even it would be extremely important in the present dire energy and climate change situation. Doon't they believe in the possibility any more?

I have been looking at Holmlid’s work with fascination, but also misgivings. He is a very creative man with great visions, but perhaps his imagination carries him beyond what his experiments show. So, I prefer to focus on the basic observations: the observation of charged particles, some of more than 10 MeV, after exposure to focused laser pulses very close deuterium on an iron-oxide catalyst; the observation of heat close to break-even, and the formation of neutrons. He may have the answer to the world’s energy problems. Therefore, it is very important that his work be replicated. According to the videos at the ICCF-21 by Olafsson and Zeiner-Gundersen it took them months before they saw what Holmlid and his students saw. It is not quite clear what the problems were and how they were resolved.

I have proposed some very simple experiments which do not require very sophisticated equipment except access to a suitable neodynium-YAG pulsed laser (DOI:10.13140/RG.2.2.26633.31840, DOI:10.13140/RG.2.2.26032.23044/2). It is not necessary with a high vacuum, because both the Holmlid heat and neutron experiments were at deuterium pressures from 1 mbar to 500 mbar. I have proposed the use of potassium promoted iron-oxide catalyst and titanium deuteride, as Holmlid has suggested that the active component begins with “free” D atoms.

In view of the initial difficulties of Olafsson and Zeiner-Gundersen, these simple experiments are a long shot. However, a possible positive outcome would be extremely important.