Nuclear Emissions During Self-Nucleated Acoustic Cavitation

A unique, new stand-alone acoustic inertial confinement nuclear fusion test device was successfully tested. Experiments using four different liquid types were conducted in which bubbles were self-nucleated without the use of external neutrons. Four independent detection systems were used (i.e., a neutron track plastic detector to provide unambiguous visible records for fast neutrons, a ${\mathrm{BF}}_3$ detector, a NE-113-type liquid scintillation detector, and a NaI $\gamma$ ray detector). Statistically significant nuclear emissions were observed for deuterated benzene and acetone mixtures but not for heavy water. The measured neutron energy was $\le 2.45\mathrm{MeV}$, which is indicative of deuterium-deuterium (D-D) fusion. Neutron emission rates were in the range $\sim 5\times {10}^3\mathrm{n}/\mathrm{s}$ to $\sim {10}^4\mathrm{n}/\mathrm{s}$ and followed the inverse law dependence with distance. Control experiments did not result in statistically significant neutron or $\gamma$ ray emissions.

Figure 1

Schematic representation of experimental setup.

Figure 2

Change in counts from Neutron-Gamma Spectra for ${\mathrm{C}}_6{\mathrm{D}}_6\mathrm{\text{−}}{\mathrm{C}}_2{\mathrm{Cl}}_4\mathrm{\text{−}}{\mathrm{C}}_3{\mathrm{D}}_6\mathrm{O}\mathrm{\text{−}}\mathrm{UN}$ and ${\mathrm{C}}_6{\mathrm{H}}_6\mathrm{\text{−}}{\mathrm{C}}_2{\mathrm{Cl}}_4\mathrm{\text{−}}{\mathrm{C}}_3{\mathrm{H}}_6\mathrm{O}\mathrm{\text{−}}\mathrm{UN}$ with self-nucleation and ${\mathrm{BF}}_3$ detector (data collected over 3600 s; $\mathrm{\text{Cavitation off counts}}=49$ and 50 counts for deuterated and nondeuterated liquid tests, respectively).

Figure 3

Changes in counts from Neutron-Gamma Spectra for ${\mathrm{D}}_2\mathrm{O}$ and ${\mathrm{H}}_2\mathrm{O}$ with self-nucleation and ${\mathrm{BF}}_3$ detector (counts for cavitation $\mathrm{\text{Off}}/\mathrm{\text{On}}=37/39$ for ${\mathrm{D}}_2\mathrm{O}\mathrm{\text{−}}\mathrm{UN};=39/44$ for ${\mathrm{H}}_2\mathrm{O}\mathrm{\text{−}}\mathrm{UN}$).

Figure 4

Change in counts from pulse height spectra for ${\mathrm{C}}_6{\mathrm{D}}_6\mathrm{\text{−}}{\mathrm{C}}_2{\mathrm{Cl}}_4\mathrm{\text{−}}{\mathrm{C}}_3{\mathrm{D}}_6\mathrm{O}\mathrm{\text{−}}\mathrm{UN}$ and ${\mathrm{C}}_6{\mathrm{H}}_6\mathrm{\text{−}}{\mathrm{C}}_2{\mathrm{Cl}}_4\mathrm{\text{−}}{\mathrm{C}}_3{\mathrm{H}}_6\mathrm{O}$-mixtures with self (alpha recoil nucleation) and LS detector (data taken over 300 seconds).

Figure 5

Variation of neutron tracks for deuterated and nondeuterated test fluids.