The fact that there is photon emission in the soft x-ray range for the heavier elements is interesting. I am reminded of Ron Maimon's suggestion, assuming I have understood it: if you kick out an inner shell electron in one of the heavier elements (Ar, Kr and Xe, below, but also Pd and perhaps Ni), the resulting vacancy will have potential energy in the keV -- he mentioned 20 keV for palladium. The two ways that are commonly understood to dissipate this energy are characteristic photons, where a higher shell electron falls into the vacancy and emits a photon in the process, and Augur electrons. The crux of Ron Maimon's proposal is that there is a third way to deal with the resulting potential energy -- it could end up being transferred to a deuteron in the area in the form of kinetic energy (if I have understood him). So instead of a characteristic photon or an Augur electron you would have a deuteron with ~20 keV energy. According to Wikipedia, the optimum temperature for D-D fusion is 15 keV [1], so all else being equal, the energies appear to be within the realm of possibility.
Maimon proposes that transmutations are a combination of (1) the shattering of the "spectator nucleus" (e.g., the palladium atom) by the energy of the reaction and (2) the absorption of daughters of the fusion reaction into the spectator nucleus. Alphas and other fragments that are formed and not absorbed in this way race through the local system, ionizing nuclei as they go and carrying the reaction forward. Note that although Ron Maimon has been talking about the Pd/D solid-phase system, there is nothing obvious that would restrict this description to that system. Perhaps you could see something similar going on in a gas phase system with species entirely different from palladium (although I suspect the presence of deuterium would be necessary). I think you would need heavy gas atoms, though -- perhaps Ar, Kr and Xe, for example. Eric [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_fusion#Criteria_and_candidates_for_terrestrial_reactions On Fri, Nov 23, 2012 at 12:36 PM, Axil Axil <janap...@gmail.com> wrote: > Chlorine/noble gas combo produces the most powerful laser effect in the > 150 and 173 nm wave length range, were the shorter the wavelength is, the > closer the laser is to the soft x-ray range. > > Floride/noble gas produces a less powerful laser emination > > The wavelength of an excimer laser depends on the molecules used, and is > usually in the ultraviolet: > > Excimer /Wavelength /Relative Power mW > > Ar2* /126 nm > Kr2* /146 nm > Xe2* /172 & 175 nm > ArF /193 nm /60 > KrF /248 nm /100 > XeBr /282 nm > XeCl /308 nm /50 > XeF /351 nm /45 > KrCl /222 nm / 25 > > See > > http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Excimer_laser > > > * Notice that Ar, Kr, and Xe can produce powerful soft x-ray laser > radiation on their own. > > > Cheers: Axil >
