Observation of nuclear fusion driven by a pyroelectric crystal

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Abstract
While progress in fusion research continues with magnetic1 and inertial2 confinement, alternative approaches—such as Coulomb explosions of deuterium clusters3 and ultrafast laser–plasma interactions4—also provide insight into basic processes and technological applications. However, attempts to produce fusion in a room temperature solid-state setting, including ‘cold’ fusion5 and ‘bubble’ fusion6, 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 α-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.