An Experimental Investigation of Low Energy Nuclear Reactions in a DC Glow Discharge
ABSTRACT: This work addresses the possibility of low energy nuclear reactions within a DC glow deuterium discharge with palladium electrodes. The hypothesis is that the dynamics typically used in plasma for nuclear reactions must be modified while the reactants are within a dynamic solidstate metallic system. In this work, a DC glow deuterium plasma simultaneously implants deuterons into the cathode and causes crystalline deformations, which act as trapping sites for the mobile interstitial deuterons. A Solid-State Nuclear Track Detector (SSNTD), called CR-39, was chosen as the technique to investigate the emission of energetic charged particles from the cathode. While other research has used this type of detector, this is the first application in a low voltage DC plasma discharge, i.e., a discharge with electrodes biased below 1 kV. A new analysis technique was developed, which allowed rapid scanning of large CR-39 surfaces. The new method amassed considerably more data than previous studies. After plasma treatments, tracks in the CR-39 detectors consistently corresponded to 138 ± 21 keV alpha particles emitted from the palladium electrodes. The track densities for deuterium discharges wereoften ∼100 times above controls with hydrogen and helium. Currently, there are no known means to accelerate ions to these energies within the apparatus. The energy estimates plus other factors like the ion directionality indicate these ions were created by nuclear reactions. This work provides future researchers the basis for establishing a theory for creating Low Energy Nuclear Reactions (LENR).
