Thermonuclear Fusion in a Cavitating Fluid Whose Incompressibility Arises From Fermi Repulsion
Abstract
Despite the enormous interest in reaching controlled thermonuclear fusion as a source of limitless energy there exists no laboratory scale thermal fusion device. Even for efficiencies Q<<1 a single PI laboratory scale thermal fusion instrument would be transformational. Such a device would become an experimental test bed for a spectrum of innovative ideas aimed at improving Q and understanding this process under wide ranging conditions. This proposed project is motivated by the phenomenon of sonoluminescence [SL] whereby the passage of a sound wave through a fluid creates picosecond flashes of ultraviolet light. The conversion of sound to light involves the spontaneous concentration of the energy density of sound by 12 orders of magnitude. A bubble of gas extracts energy from the sound field by expanding during its rarefaction and then concentrates that energy to its interior during a subsequent implosion that reaches supersonic velocities. In a wide range of parameter space that includes fluids such a water, and gases such as Helium, Xenon, Hydrogen, the emission spectrum is a blackbody with temperatures between 10,000K to 20,000K. The temperatures reached in SL are limited by the compressibility of the host fluid. Fluids such as water are compressible due to the weakness of the hydrogen bond and drain energy from the collapsing bubble. In contrast to water the bulk modulus of a pressurized molten salt is due to the coulomb repulsion and Fermi exchange force that resist overlapping electron shells. These are the strongest repulsive forces in nature. This project will theoretically investigate the conditions under which cavitation in highly incompressible fluids can be used to reach temperatures in excess of 5MK and so be in the regime of thermal fusion when the contents include Deuterium or Tritium.
Document Details
- Document Type
- DoD Grant Award
- Publication Date
- Jul 07, 2021
- Source ID
- HQ00342010034
Entities
People
- Seth Putterman
Organizations
- Office of the Secretary of Defense
- University of California, Los Angeles
- Washington Headquarters Services