Mimicking the processes by which the sun creates its energy,
UCLA researchers have created nuclear fusion within the confines of
a campus laboratory.
The experiment ““ which will be published in today’s
issue of the journal Nature ““ allowed scientists to produce
small quantities of power by utilizing a tiny crystal and
generating a strong electric field.
Generally, the power produced by nuclear fusion is thought of as
the ultimate energy source, in part because it is among the
cleanest and could eventually act as an alternative to fossil fuel
sources such as oil and coal.
This specific experiment, referred to as “tabletop nuclear
fusion,” may one day be able to help alleviate the
world’s energy needs, but “we are nowhere near
generating that kind of power,” said Seth Putterman, a UCLA
professor of physics and member of the research team.
As of yet, the amount of power that scientists have been able to
harness is too little to play a significant role in any clean
energy solution. In fact, the experiment only produces as much
energy as is put in.
The process is considered environmentally friendly, however,
since it produces little or no air pollution and doesn’t
present concerns about health safety and radioactive waste.
The tabletop method generated by Putterman and his fellow
researchers is an important development in the creation of fusion
power because it is self-contained. Conventionally, fusion power
calls for a large supply of high voltage power, a process which is
both complex and inefficient.
With this new method, scientists essentially took a tiny
crystal, placed it in a egg-sized container, added dueterium gas (a
form of hydrogen gas) and roughened the surface. The result was
nuclear fusion.
In fusion, large amounts of energy are released when atoms are
joined together in the presence of high temperatures.
In Putterman’s experiment, the dueterium atoms collided
with each other in the face of a strong electric field,
subsequently fusing together.
“It’s amazing to us that these crystals can do
this,” Putterman said. “Just amazing.”
The method engineered by Putterman and the other researchers may
lead to developments in the oil-drilling industry and homeland
security, but both of those implications may not materialize for
some time.
“We’re hoping that other people will bring their
ideas. … If people have ideas (about energy uses), by all means,
let them come to the table,” Putterman said, adding that
right now the team is hoping to use the technology to create
high-power neutron cameras, capable of looking behind
“things.”
Another groundbreaking aspect of the breakthrough is that the
team completely complied with the laws of physics.
“The first thing to note is that everything we’ve
done and found is consistent with the laws of physics,”
Putterman said, which is important since previous experiments with
tabletop fusion have bypassed such laws.
The most famous of these forays occurred in 1989, when Dr. B.
Stanley Pons of the University of Utah and Martin Fleischman of
Southhampton University in England announced they had achieved
“cold fusion” at room temperature. The scientists lost
credibility when others failed to reproduce the same effect after
repeated attempts.
Putterman’s team, on the other hand, have gained the trust
of the scientific community.
“This doesn’t have any controversy in it because
they’re using a tried-and-true method,” said David
Ruzic, professor of nuclear and plasma engineering from the
University of Illinois at Urbana-Campaign. “There’s no
mystery in terms of the physics.”
With reports from Bruin wire services.