About 20 years ago, I read an article in Physics Today that could have referred to the Purcell effect (I don't remember). It talked of suppression of atomic decay in a waveguide too small to support the photon that would normally be emitted. Decay did not occur until the excited atom exited the waveguide. This was one of those major events in my physics education. I am surprised that more has not been made of it in terms of understanding the nature of light.
Axil Axil's mention of acceleration of nuclear photonic decay by resonance surprised me, until I thought about it. This appears to be a form of stimulated atomic emission and nuclear-photonic excitation. The implications are as immense as those of the suppression mechanism. To me, a major importance to LENR is in the mode of induced decay from the hydrogen groundstate to its deep-electron orbit via resonant coupling to the low-lying (hundreds of keV) 1st excited states of the 7Li nucleus, to some odd-A Ni isotopes and to some, particularly the even-A, Pd isotopes. If it is as important as I think, then many other materials might become active candidates for cold fusion. Andrew M. _ _ _ _ _ On Sun, Mar 25, 2018 at 3:14 PM, Axil Axil <[email protected]> wrote: > Purcell effect > > > https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Purcell_effect > > > For particle physicists whose entire standard model assumes that decay > rates cannot be influenced by external factors, the Purcell effect is a > puzzle. > > > The Purcell effect is a condition that has perplexed science which lays > smack dab in the middle of one of the miracles of the LENR reaction. In > science, It has long been asserted that nuclear decay rates are constant > and cannot be affected by anything. > > > https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/10/141010083857.htm > > *Old textbook knowledge reconfirmed: Decay rates of radioactive substances > are constant* > > > This assertion has been used by the critics of the LENR reaction to > undercut the validity of what experiments have shown when the LENR reaction > was in progress. > > > But the Purcell effect discounts the logic of this LENR criticism. The > Purcell effect states that the decay rate of a radioactive isotope is > affected by light trapped in an optical cavity. This nuclear decay rate can > either increase or decrease by a factor up to 50 times. > > > https://physics.aps.org/synopsis-for/10.1103/PhysRevLett.120.122501 > > *Controlling the Rate of Nuclear Decay* > > > The maximum effect is achieved when a dark mode of light emissions from > the optical cavity is achieved. This mode is when light is maintained > inside the cavity and does not radiate out. An important condition that > must exist in both the LENR reaction and the Purcell effect is that this > effect exists in nano-cavities in metal. > > > But what is more disconcerting is that the nuclear decay rate can either > increase or decrease by a factor of 50. > > > There is something that exists in an optical cavity that can affect > nuclear processes. What can it be and how does it do it. > > > Well it is our old LENR friend, the Surface Plasmon Polariton (SPP). The > SPP can produce nuclear effects and does it best when it is in dark mode. > But how can the SPP stop a radioactive isotope from decaying? > > > The SPP is formed by two counter rotating currents of polaritons. These > currents are polarized in terms of handedness. Right-handed particles don’t > decay, only left-handed particles decay. > > > https://www.nature.com/articles/524008b > > *Particle physics: Only left-handed particles decay* > > > When a radioactive nucleus is converted by the SPP into a right handed > particle, it cannot decay. But when the nucleus is converted by the SPP > into a left handed particle, it decays so fast that the radioactive nucleus > stabilizes immediately. > > > The chirality of particles explains how LENR can stabilize radioactive > waste. LENR is all about the handedness (chirality) of particles. > > > > >
