Observation of Neutron Emission During Acoustic Cavitation of Deuterated Titanium Powder

Abstract In recent years there has been an explosion of commercial interest in fusion. This resurgence is driven in part by the desire to accelerate the transition away from hydrocarbons and and in part by slower than anticipated progress of the publicly funded fusion projects such as NIF and ITER. In this regard it is important to look for new ideas. One such idea involves a possibility of achieving nuclear fusion in solid state. Indeed, a solid-state fusion reactor devoid of complex plasma confinement tech would be remarkable. In this article we lift the veil over this possibility and report the observation of neutron emission coincident with acoustic cavitation of deuterated titanium powder suspended in mineral oil. The resulting neutron emission was detected using an assembly of 3He proportional neutron counters. The peak neutron count rate was in excess of 6,500 CPM, more than 10,000 times in excess of background. The observed neutron emission was coincident with the application of acoustic influence. The neutrons were present only when secondary acoustic waves originating from the complex bubble interactions inside the reactor constructively interfered resulting in massive, sharp pressure peaks on the order of a few thousand psi. We were able to sustain the neutron production for several hours and repeated the experiment multiple times under various conditions. We hypothesize that the observed neutrons originate from nuclear fusion of deuterium ions dissolved in titanium lattice due to the mechanical action of the impinging cavitation jets, although other processes (such as spallation) still need to be ruled out.