A Desktop Particle Accelerator Employing a Pyroelectric Crystal

1
A Desktop Particle Accelerator Employing a
Pyroelectric Crystal Jon Kalodimos, Kansas State
University Dr. Rand Watson, Texas AM Cyclotron
Institute
Can pyroelectric crystals drive DD fusion?
What is a pyroelectric crystal? Lithium Tantalate
(LiTaO3) is a type of crystal that has
pyroelectric properties, meaning that when it is
heated a large electrostatic field is produced on
the face of the crystal.
Around 100 KeV the DD fusion cross section is
nearing its asymptotic limit. The small box
represents the energy of the ions produced with
the LiTaO3 we used.
Physics of pyroelectricity When a pyroelectric
crystal is heated the crystalline structure
rearranges producing many dipoles. These will
align to produce a large electrostatic field.
Experimental Setup for determining if a
pyroelectic crystal can drive DD fusion
This electrostatic field can grow in excess of
100KV. To utilize as a particle accelerator I
characterized the electrostatic potential by
measuring the Bremsstrahlung radiation of the
freed electron associated with ion production.
NoteThe motivation behind this experiment is to
verify claims the DD fusion is possible. At the
end of the REU program the experiment was setup
but due to time constraints wasnt run. The
results of this experiment should be available
shortly.
In this particular run 100 KeV electrons were
produced. Associated with those was a 100 KeV
ion beam that is of the order of a nanoAmp