Deflation Fusion
Speculations Regarding the Nature of Cold Fusion
Horace Heffner October 17, 2007
Continued from Part 1 ....
ULTRA-HEAVY HYDROGEN ISOTOPES
The existence of hydrogen-4 to hydrogen-7 and possibly beyond, as
well as helium-5 to helium-8, may shed some light on the intermediate
states of some LENR processes.13 A deflation fusion of multiple
electrons and two deuterons or more in a loaded lattice, possibly
followed by a weak reaction, could produce these ultra-heavy hydrogen
or helium nuclei as an intermediary state. The ability to shed four
neutrons or more from a heavy hydrogen or helium intermediate state
implies the ability of a quad-neutron to tunnel to a heavy nucleus in
the lattice. This could explain various observed jumps of four in
nucleon number of lattice elements in LENR experiments. Further, a
deflated hydrogen state of an ultra heavy hydrogen may look like a
clump of neutrons to the lattice atoms, and thus easily tunnel long
distances to them because the tunneling is energetically neutral
electrostatically speaking, and favorable magnetically.
It is notable that hydrogen diffusion occurs via tunneling the
typical separation distance of the lattice metal nuclei, i.e. from
one lattice site to an adjacent site. However, the typical distance
between a hydrogen nucleus and lattice nucleus is half that. The
tunneling rate of a deflated hydrogen nucleus into close proximity of
a lattice metal nucleus is thus greater than to the same proximity of
a hydrogen nucleus in an adjacent site. If the tunneling hydrogen
nucleus is in the deflated state, i.e. neutral, its final destination
is unaffected by the Coulomb barrier, only affected by its mass and
the tunneling distance. The size of a nucleus is affected by
nuclear structure and excitation state. We would thus expect
deflated state tunneling to occur into lattice nuclei with greater
probability until a low energy small nuclear structure is achieved.
This feature may be of special use in deactivating nuclear waste. A
typical final nuclear state should tend to consist of multiple alpha
particle structures.
Because deflated state hydrogen has no net charge, the probability of
deflated state hydrogen tunneling long distances is greatly
increased. In D+D fusion in the lattice, the tunneling D is
therefore most likely to not be in the deflated state, and the static
hydrogen in the tunneled-to location where fusion occurs is therefore
likely to be in the deflated state. For this reason D+D fusion can
be more likely than low energy nuclear reactions with the lattice
nuclei.
It has been noted that in some cases magnetic fields improve the
success rate at producing LENR. This is highly consistent with the
deflation fusion concept in that a magnetic force aligned between
hydrogen locations and lattice atom locations provides a potential
that greatly increases the probability of tunneling in the deflated
state. However, it is most notable that it is not a magnetic field
alone which should have an effect, it is a magnetic gradient that
provides a magnetic force and thus an increased tunneling probability
for deflated state nuclei. Attempts to produce magnetically enhanced
LENR rates should thus attempt to optimize both the magnitude and
direction of the magnetic gradient across the lattice, not just place
a magnetic field through the lattice. It is especially noteworthy
that powerful magnetic gradients can be induced within a lattice by
use of coherent x-rays.
THE BACK SIDE CELL
The method of applying high electron fugacity to deuterium loaded
cathodes has the objective of creating an energy focusing effect,
forcing co-centered wave function collapse, resulting in deflation
fusion. The objective is to create simultaneously a high deuteron
fugacity and electron fugacity. Fugacity of a particle type in a
given environment is similar to pressure in that it is a measure of
the energy required to add one more such particle to that
environment. It is of interest that as electron density increases,
the fugacity of a given amount of loaded hydrogen decreases.
Increasing electron fugacity increases the loading feasible with a
given amount of electrolysis energy, though adding one particle of
each increases the fugacity of both.
The application of extreme fields to the back side of a loaded
cathode is one way to increase electron fugacity. That is to say a
cathode can be loaded electrolytically from one side, the electrolyte
side, and yet be a charged to millions of volts at the back side
surface. The back side surface can interface to a vacuum, hydrogen
gas, high pressure dry nitrogen, clear HV oil, glass, or any
convenient highly transparent and sufficiently insulating medium on
the high voltage back side of the cathode. Call this high voltage
side of the cathode the cathode back side. The back side is the
surface opposite the hydrogen loading surface. Call a cell having
such a two sided cathode a back side cell. Such a cell may have two
separate compartments in order to implement the independent surface
loading or deloading potentials. Accomplishing this in a practical
manner requires formation of a surface layer on the cathode back side
surface which reduces the rate of hydrogen evolution from the back
side. Such a layer could be an insulating oxide layer thin enough to
support electron tunneling, but not excessive deuterium or helium
tunneling, or could be a low diffusion rate metal thin film, like a
gold or copper alloy.
A back side cell allows diffusion to occur through the cathode, the
hydrogen coming in the front side and out the back side. The
diffusion rate out the back side is controlled such that the hydrogen
fugacity is maintained at an adequate level, while the diffusion rate
is simultaneously maintained. Call this technique back side de-loading.
A high density of electrons at the cathode high voltage back side
surface and just beneath the back side surface increases both the
hydrogen final density and diffusion rate throughout the cathode,
especially if it is thin. It also increases the probability of wave
function collapse of surface deuterons due to Stark effect orbital
stressing due to high electric field conditions at the cathode back
side surface and immediate subsurface.
Application of a powerful magnetic field parallel to the cathode
vacuum surface incrementally stresses the deuteron orbitals there via
the Paschen-Back effect and the formation of Rydberg orbitals,
which, in addition to destabilizing electron waveforms and reducing
the discreteness of normal quantum effects, also increases the
probability of electrons locating within the volume of the nucleus
or experiencing simultaneous wave function collapse with and within
it. A strong laser beam nearly parallel to but striking the cathode
back side surface increases the above combined field effects
dramatically.
An alternative arrangement is to orient the powerful magnetic field
as normal to the cathode back side surface interface. In this case
the laser beam effects are diluted somewhat due to being normal to
the magnetic field, though the vector sum of the fields is still
enhanced.
IONICALLY BOUND ELECTRONS AND PARTIAL ORBITALS
An adsorbed hydrogen nucleus, here for convenience simply called a
deuteron, has an associated electron always very close by in the
lattice. This electron and its associated deuteron are considered to
be "ionically bound" in the lattice. When a deuteron is adsorbed at
the face of the cathode, it is bound to a free conduction band
electron already there in the cathode surface, an electron provided
there by the electrolysis potential. This ionic bonding greatly
restricts the bound electron's wave function. The adsorption of the
deuteron also momentarily reduces the potential of the cathode, i.e.
the electron fugacity of the cathode, and results in an electron
current to the cathode from the power supply which restores it.
Loading of the cathode requires current beyond that required for the
electrolysis evolved gas. The cell current has to accommodate both
the evolved gas plus adsorbed hydrogen.
The electrons ionically bound to adsorbed hydrogen are no longer
fully conduction band electrons. Their wave functions are diminished
in size. As loading completes, the conduction bands are frozen and
conductivity diminishes. Cathode conductivity is in fact the measure
commonly used to estimate loading, though loading percentage has been
correlated with and confirmed by other methods, like neutron and x-
ray scattering. The size and mobility of conduction band electron
quantum waveforms in fully loaded cathodes is unusually small,
compared to ordinary conductors, due to the high deuteron density.
In a fully loaded lattice the ionically bound electron has no room
for a full orbital about the deuteron. The ionically bound electron
occupies what has been characterized as a "partial orbital", or
“confined orbital”, where the probability of conduction band
existence and orbital existence is split. The application of extreme
magnetic fields, which in ordinary atoms produce fuzzy non-quantum
like electron existences at extreme ranges from the nucleus, may do
the opposite for partial orbital electrons. These extreme orbitals
in ordinary hydrogen with increased quantum numbers due to
excitement and extreme magnetic fields are called Rydberg orbitals.
The probability of orbital electrons being in or near the nucleus
increases dramatically for Rydberg orbitals. Similar effects exist
for strong electrostatic fields.
In the case of partial orbitals, where the conduction band existence
is energetically suppressed, the close-to-the-deuteron portion of the
wave function takes on increased probability, increasing the
probability of wave function collapse onto or with the deuteron.
Electron-nucleus interaction probabilities are increased by the
increase in the near nucleus electron density. This premise may
sound far fetched, but the chemical-nuclear relationship is no longer
easily dismissed because it has been firmly established with regard
to electron capture. 14 A nearly one percent difference in half
life occurs simply due to the difference between electron wave
functions for 7Be atoms inside C60 instead of Be metal. Further,
the half life for 7Be atoms inside C60 was found to decrease upon
cooling, and this was correlated to electron density at the Be
nucleus.15
When loading reaches a 1-1 ratio of deuterium to metal, and
essentially all lattice sites are deuteron filled, additional loading
requires that some lattice sites contain two or more deuterons.
Multiply occupied sites actually occur well before 1-1 loading is
achieved. These sites therefor also contain within them much more
dense wave functions of the partial orbitals of the ionically bound
electrons. In these sites a 2 way or 3 way tunneling event becomes
likely, resulting in a 3 way or 4 way wave function collapse.
USE OF A CALCIUM OXIDE BARRIER
The cathode high voltage back side, either in gas back side mode, or
dielectric back side mode, can be coated with a layer of calcium
oxide (CaO) to provide the much needed diffusion barrier. Evidence
for this application is provided by Iwamura's work,16 17 which can
be interpreted to show that a thin diffusion barrier is effective at
building hydrogen fugacity and thus deflation fusion. There are
numerous references to Iwamura at lenr-canr.org.
Hydrogen diffusion in Pd is almost entirely by tunneling. When
diffusing through a CaO barrier, toward the back side, the deuteron
leaves behind an electron on the front side, which can simultaneously
tunnel across the same barrier, or not. When an electron is left
behind on the front side of the barrier, the deuteron would have had
to have found a matching electron on the back side of the barrier to
make that tunneling event favorable. (Alternatively the deuteron-
electron pair could have tunneled while in the deflated hydrogen
state, but this state has low probability normally. ) This suddenly
unveiled electron on the (high hydrogen fugacity) front side then
starts a chain of deuteron tunneling events on the backed up high
pressure front side of the barrier, progressing away from the barrier
toward the front of the cathode, and such tunneling events are the
stuff of which deflation fusion is made. Increasing the probability
of tunneling by this method greatly increases the probability of dual
deuteron tunneling, and thus deflation fusion. The tunneling process
in this case is always toward the location of a catalyzing electron
left behind in a vacant site. This process is clearly made far more
likely in general by providing a source of electrons on the back side
of the barrier to initiate the tunneling chains on the front side.
BACKSIDE DE-LOADING ISSUES
Backside de-loading is a method which has good rationale within the
deflation fusion model. It permits continued high tunneling rates
even after high loading is achieved. The problem then is to achieve
the backside de-loading in a practical way.
The key is establishing a backside diffusion barrier, and using the
right cross-barrier potential in order to match the de-loading and
loading rates so as to sustain high hydrogen fugacity. It is also an
objective to provide a high electron charge density immediately
opposite the de-loading barrier. One means of increasing charge
density is to increase field strength by using a high dielectric
strength material opposite the barrier. One means of suppressing
hydrogen diffusion is to make the potential of the back side surface
extremely negative, thus making escape of positive hydrogen nuclei
more suppressed. A highly negative cathode back side provides
potentially catalytic excess electrons in the conduction bands
located between de-loading hydrogen nuclei in adjacent cells.
Simultaneously de-loading nuclei thus have a high probability of
electron catalyzed fusion in a lateral direction across the electrode
surface because there is an optimized probability of a catalyzing
electron between the tunneling pair. The potential of the back side
can be raised to an almost arbitrarily high negative value by use of
high dielectric strength very low conductivity dipole liquids on the
back side.
Now for a differing approach to back side de-loading. One way to
achieve many of these objectives is to make the back side an anode
immersed in water. See Figure 4. The water acts as the dielectric.
The field strength across the two layer anode-water interface is well
over 106 V/m even at a few volts electrolysis potential.
The anodic diffusion barrier can be deposited and even maintained or
healed by anodization. 18 The target for hydrogen tunneling then is
OH- molecules in the interphase, and any free electrons that might be
ionized off them and attached to the anodized barrier. De-loading
hydrogen nuclei in adjacent cells then have a comparatively high
probability of fusion in a direction lateral to the anode surface
due to surface electron catalysis.
One problem with this approach is keeping the electrons from
tunneling across the backside barrier to the hydrogen instead of the
hydrogen tunneling through the back side barrier to the electrons.
The down side to electron tunneling through the backside barrier is
(1) deflation fusion is accomplished best by simultaneous deuteron
tunneling to an electron and (2) fusion on the front side of the
barrier will cause disruption of the lattice, destruction of the
barrier, and possible helium blockage.
Preventing the above problems should be possible by energetically
denying them by driving front side electrolysis at a much higher
voltage once loading is complete. This can best be accomplished
using a coordinated pulsed mode. Operating with a superimposed
pulse, applied simultaneously on both the front and back side
potentials, to trigger hydrogen barrier tunneling, is efficient
because it gives the lattice time to diffuse replacement hydrogen,
backside gas a chance to dissipate, and the interphase to recover,
while providing maximum fugacity during the pulse.
An alternative, on the back side, is to use pulsed AC on top of a DC
trickle current used to sustain the anodized layer. Very high
frequency high voltage AC intervals with low duty cycles, on the back
side, would cause tunneling directions across the backside of the
barrier to switch directions, alternating many times per volume
diffused, and thereby increasing fusion prospects per diffused atom.
It also increases the probability of OH- de-ionization, loosing free
electrons to attach to the backside diffusion barrier.
High voltage AC and DC has been used by the author to anodize
aluminum and zirconium electrodes with a barrier driven at over 1000
V.19 Such a surface barrier tends to self maintain even when used
with AC electrolysis. Such a barrier permits the use of very high
positive and/or negative potentials that may be of use in generating
high electron fugacities at the back side when the back side is in
the high voltage cathode phase of the cycle. The negative potential
of the back side can increase to a substantial amount, i.e. the
point where the substantial barrier can be tunneled by the
electrons. The surface layer of the electrode metal thus contains a
large electron density in an extreme fugacity condition. Further, due
to the use of AC, hydrogen tunneling is ongoing in the lattice, in
directions that alternate with the AC current flow. Hydrogen
tunneling rates can be further enhanced by application of lateral
currents through the electrode. This is an ideal environment for
deflation fusion to occur, a high tunneling rate high fugacity excess
electron environment.
FUSION OUTSIDE THE LATTICE
The high probability of a deflated hydrogen state indicates that back
side de-loading into any hydrogen dense, high field environment,
where the back side is positive, an anode, should generate fusion
between the de-loading hydrogen and some of the deflated state
hydrogen adjacent to the de-loading back side anode. Though water or
a very weak electrolyte should work to some limited degree, a non-
conducting back side liquid might be best for this purpose, a
hydrogen rich liquid like anhydrous ammonia or benzene might be
ideal, possibly augmented by a porous high dielectric constant field
concentrating solid dielectric layer. The high field strength
increases the probability of de-loading hydrogen atoms making it to
deflated state hydrogen in the liquid. A back side surface barrier
assists this process by increasing hydrogen fugacity in the lattice
and by forcing back side de-loading to occur by a hydrogen tunneling
process, with some enhanced probability of being in the deflated
state, into the liquid layer adjacent to the anode surface, which is
hydrogen rich, and thus has a high probability of containing hydrogen
in a deflated state. Key to making this work is establishment of an
extreme field on the back side electrode surface. The structure of
water near a high voltage anode and possible mechanisms for energy
generation therefrom has been described by the author.20 Though
possible excess heat has been observed, this environment has not been
tested by the author in a back side de-loading mode. It is
especially noteworthy that coherent laser light applied normal to a
high voltage back side anode should be effective in creating liquid
mode deflation fusion due to the unusually close proximity of
stressed orbital hydrogen in OH and H2O molecules in the electrolyte
at the anode surface.
THERMAL CYCLING AND HIGH TEMPERATURE ALLOYS
A powerful means of orbital stressing is cooling a loaded lattice.
The lattice contracts and applies enormous pressure on the loaded
hydrogen atoms. This approach to orbital stressing has limited
utility for electrolysis loaded cells. However, it may be of great
utility when applied to high temperature cells, which are better
suited for high efficiency energy generation. Operating in high
temperature gas mode opens up a vast set of possible cathode
materials which are of no use at ordinary electrolysis temperatures.
Work in hot gas phase loading of metal cathodes in the presence of an
electric discharge was achieved, even early on, by Claytor et al. 21
22 23 Some alloys were found to be more effective than others at
producing tritium. What is suggested by the deflation fusion
mechanism is that the critical ingredients should be: adsorbed
hydrogen partial orbital stressing, high electron and hydrogen
fugacity, high hydrogen concentration, all combined with as high a
diffusion rate as possible. Provided all these ingredients can be
brought together, the elements in the lattice should be of secondary
importance - though without a proper choice of alloy and temperature
operating profile, these critical ingredients are in fact not
possible. What the deflation fusion model brings to the table is a
basis on which to design or select alloys for testing, as well as an
emphasis on temperature control and cycling. It also suggests some
basic materials science investigations of hydrogen loading
characteristics and tolerance of various alloys over a high range of
temperatures. High hydrogen loading density and avoidance of
embrittlement, or at least achieving fast annealing, are key
requirements.
High temperature hydrogen adsorption is feasible using high strength
alloys of iron, tungsten, molybdenum, and other metals which are
incapable of adsorption at room temperature. Excess heat and
nuclear reactions have been observed in gas loaded nickel alloys at
high temperatures by Focardi et al, even using ordinary hydrogen. 24
25 LiNi5 lanthanum-nickel, LaNi4.5Co0.5, and mischmetal nickel
alloy have been suggested.26 Another candidate for hot loading
might be LixByMgz.27 Hot operating alloys can be designed to
maximize bond strength, annealing ability, operating temperature
range, and hydrogen loading as well as helium de-loading
characteristics in a controlled temperature range cycling profile.
This is the probable path for practical cold fusion development - use
of hot temperature-cycled cathodes. This path has the obvious
advantage of a large Carnot efficiency.
High temperature cells are loaded in gas phase, by high voltage DC
with a high voltage high frequency signal, or microwaves, applied as
well for ionization purposes. The lattice temperature is cycled from
hot, for loading, to less hot, for high stressing heat generation.
Before returning to the hot loading phase, various temperature cycles
might be used to facilitate helium de-loading, and annealing of
cracks, as was achieved by Claytor et al.
A simple version of this cell type could merely consist of a hot wire
used as a cathode for gas phase loading and thermal cycling.
Nichrome wire is readily available and may provide the needed
characteristics. Control circuitry would be required to prevent
cascade driven current runaways due to the high electron emission
from a hot cathode. A higher DC voltage can be used in the reduced
temperature hydrogen compressing phase. Using a cell designed to
accomodate a liquid cathode material, and a readily melted lattice
material, the lattice material could be fully melted between some
thermal cycles in order to remove helium and restore the lattice.28
A through-cathode current can be used to simultaneously achieve DC
loading while applying AC to the lattice to increase tunneling
rates. A low duty cycle through-electrode pulse is of use in the
compression phase to promote high diffusion rates while avoiding
overheating the electrode. The through-electrode AC capability also
has use for heating the lattice for annealing, loading, or other
purposes. High pressure hydrogen or high voltage gas loading or a
combination can be used. The source of heat for annealing or melting
can be through the ceramic compartment walls instead of supplied by
electrodes.
SUMMARY
A new partial state of existence of hydrogen, a small neutral state,
the deflated hydrogen state has been defined. The deflated hydrogen
state is a very small and ghostlike neutral charge alternate
existence for the nucleus with attosecond magnitude duration. There
is evidence for an astronomical effective frequency of occurrence of
the deflated hydrogen state, even when the hydrogen nucleus is in a
molecular site. This state can be thought of as (1) providing a
tunneling target for hydrogen otherwise diffusing through the
lattice, and (2) having its own probability of tunneling as a
combined electron-nucleus body. The fact the deflated state entity
is neutral greatly affects the probability of a given tunneling
outcome in the vicinity being within fusion range. This
significantly reduces the width of the Coulomb barrier - and in fact
momentarily makes it disappear, makes it irrelevant. This enormously
increases the probability of a fusion event. Further, the existence
of the deflated hydrogen state helps explain the unusual branching
ratios and ash produced by cold fusion experiments.
The very brief existence of the deflated state explains why
kinetically induced fusion can not make use of the Coulomb barrier
being down , because there is insufficient time for a motional
approach of the nuclei before the barrier is back up.
A hydrogen nucleus diffusing through a lattice does so by tunneling
from its occupied site to a vacant site. Tunneling to an adjacent
unoccupied site is energetically favorable for a hydrogen occupying a
site adjacent to multiple occupied sites, i.e. in a high fugacity
environment. An adjacent site occupied by a deflated state hydrogen
nucleus provides a tunneling opportunity for a hydrogen nucleus
because the deflated state is neutral and thus the Coulomb barrier is
down, at least with some probability. If the tunneling event occurs,
but not to a locus close enough to cause fusion, which is not
possible when the Coulomb barrier is up, then when the deflated
nucleus is unveiled by electron departure, the hydrogen tunneling
event can be reversed, or otherwise the tunneling chain of events can
be moved forward to a lower fugacity site. In a fully loaded
environment, a momentarily unoccupied cell will have multiple
candidates likely to tunnel simultaneously into it. If one or more
of the tunneling candidates tunnel in deflated state, or if the cell
is not actually unoccupied but merely occupied by a deflated state
nucleus (such a cell appears to the neighboring nuclei as
unoccupied), then deflation fusion opportunities are maximal, even
for multi-body events.
The deflation fusion model provides a set of principles for
increasing fusion likelihood: (1) maximize the combined hydrogen
fugacity and diffusion rate because neither is especially useful
without the other, (2) maximize orbital stress to increase the
probability of the deflated hydrogen state, (3) maximize the
magnetic gradient along an axis chosen to optimize either LENR or CF,
and (4) maximize electron fugacity in order to increase the electron
quantum states, i.e. aggregate electron energies, and thus further
objectives (1) and (2) as well as provide an energy focusing effect.
It further appears providing periodic barriers to conduction band
electrons, but through which hydrogen readily diffuses, increases
LENR probability.
The backside de-loading scheme, defined in various forms29 , was
designed to achieve multiple of the above objectives simultaneously.
Cycling through high temperature loading and lattice readjustment by
diffusion, cooling to some extent to compress the lattice, and then
driving diffusion by through-lattice current, is also designed to
especially achieve objective (2), while increasing thermodynamic
efficiency and providing a broader choice of lattice materials.
Engineering high electrical resistance of the hot lattice, combined
with a strong through-lattice-current driven diffusion then fulfills
various objectives. Inclusion of non-conducting hydrogen diffusion
tunneling barriers in the lattice increases the probability of
deflated state tunneling, and thus fusion. These are the principal
techniques immediately suggested by the existence of the deflated
hydrogen state, and thus of deflation fusion.
The explanations of deflation fusion here are mostly expressed in a
serialized form, so as to be understandable. It may well be that in
reality these things only exist as potentialities, amplitudes which
result in final outcomes with some probability based on simultaneous
multiple complex inputs. A stepwise process model gives us a
comfortable means of understanding that which is otherwise complex to
comprehend or describe.
References and rich text version at:
http://www.mtaonline.net/~hheffner/DeflationFusion.pdf
Horace Heffner
http://www.mtaonline.net/~hheffner/
