We all have some sensory perception for the heating ability of
microwaves and lasers.
That makes it all the more important to have the greatest respect
for the "usable" level of energy found in the ultraviolet and
gamma spectra, which we experience differently from a sensory
perception.
It should be axiomatic, that when we want to rave-on (justifiably)
about the coming "nano" age, and the importance of nano technology
to the coming LENR revolution, that we also have a grasp for the
corresponding energy-density available using sub-micron radiation.
UV radiation starts at about 300 nanometers.
It has been over 5 years since this announcement below, which is
about the minimum time necessary to get prototypes to market:
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2000/10/001026091106.htm
Here is one of several important web-sites for a handful of
companies now making these solid state UV lasers. My New Year
prediction for 2006 is that they will be used this year for the
first time, ushering-in the next step in LENR (but no one else in
the field may yet realize this for a few months).
http://www.dpss-lasers.com/NewsArchive.htm
BTW, let me confess up-front that my 2005 predictions were not
very accurate. Hopefully they were just premature in the timing,
rather than wrong.
I was recently mentioning to Frank Grimer the implication of the
inverse 5th power which is part of Planck's Law when expressed as
spectral energy density as a function of wavelength. There is an
inverse fifth power law, so basically the implication is that if
you can half the wavelength of applied input radiation in the
relevant photon, then the "energy density" at an active site can
increase by a factor of 32.
For instance, even if both of two different one-watt lasers are
employed, one visible and one UV (having the same total power) the
actual end-result experienced at active sites, in a Letts/Cravens
type LENR experiment, will not be the same - but instead there
will be available an increase of x32 using UV. IOW, although the
net input of energy remains the same, it will be expressed
differently at the sub-micron level at the nuclear active site.
Actually this 5th power is not exactly what "always" happens in
practice, except at shorter wavelengths, but it is interesting to
realize in regard to the possibility of augmenting an LENR
reaction. In regard to the Letts/Cravens experiment where visible
laser light is used, then by substituting a UV laser for the
visible, if say the wavelength were halved, then the energy
density at the active site could experience an increase of 3200%
... correct?
As a follow-on to previous postings about the overriding problem
inherent in LENR of "reverse economy of scale" consider the
implication of all of this.
The immediate implication is that the individual LENR cell of the
future will be very small. It might consist only of one
solid-state laser and a "dot" of metal loaded with D2. These cells
might even be manufactured several hundred at a time using
microlithography etching. The limitation of ultimate "smallness"
will likely be related to the size of the UV laser... IF ... that
is (big if) the Letts/Cravens effect can be harnessed reliably -
and, yes, there is much indication of that reliability coming from
the folks at SRI.
Yet I do not think that even the geniuses at SRI have yet realized
fully the implications of "reverse economy of scale" and how this
chapter of the effort will now begin to unfold - that is by going
smaller, not larger... and obviously this process will be aided by
using all that we have learned from semiconductor manufacturing
... which BTW includes the TEC conversion cell itself (direct heat
to electricity conversion) which can be etched onto the chip at
the same time, in theory. And guess what - SRI is perfectly
located to take advantage of all this expertise.
This smallness only makes sense in a "net" energy approach when
there is a large multiple coming from the underlying reaction
itself. Obviously, this is always true in the nuclear scenario
where the ratio is usually from a million to one (compared with
combustion) to 10 million to one.
Any guesses on who will be the first LENR researcher to apply a UV
laser to a small cell? Perhaps it will be someone lurking out in
Vo-land whose mental-light-bulb has just now been switched on.
Blacklight light-bulb no less.
Jones
