Papers by Lawrence Forsley
Nuclear and Emerging Technologies for Space (NETS-2022)
Specific Impulse, Isp, is a measure of a rocket engine's efficiency. It is calculated relative to... more Specific Impulse, Isp, is a measure of a rocket engine's efficiency. It is calculated relative to the Earth's gravita
9th Int. Particle Accelerator Conf. (IPAC'18), Vancouver, BC, Canada, 29 April-04 May 2018, Jun 1, 2018
NASA Glenn Research Center (GRC) is investigating electron screened, enhanced nuclear reactions i... more NASA Glenn Research Center (GRC) is investigating electron screened, enhanced nuclear reactions in deuterated materials exposed to photons with kinetic energies above and below the deuteron photo-dissociation energy in a stationary deuteron center-of-mass system using a repurposed medical linear accelerator (LINAC). The objective of the current work is to utilize a photon beam with energies around the deuterium photo-dissociation energy of 2.226MeV to induce possible reactions in deuterated materials and investigate the mechanisms producing these reactions. Through these investigations, GRC has found that repeatable nuclear reactions have occurred resulting in nuclear products observed using high purity germanium (HPGe) gamma spectroscopy. Evidence of 162 Er(d,n) 163 Tm or 162 Er(p,γ) 163 Tm has been shown with the appearance of gamma peaks coinciding with 163 Tm from three samples containing deuterated erbium exposed to a photon beam in three separate experiments. These reactions may be the result of electron-screening and/or a variation of the Oppenheimer-Phillips reaction. This paper describes the theory behind the proposed reactions, the experiments conducted at GRC, and the experimental evidence of the suspected creation of the 163 Tm isotope.
IEEE Journal of Quantum Electronics, Dec 1, 1981
WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON diameter and 140-pm cladding diameter). The cascaded transmission star couple... more WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON diameter and 140-pm cladding diameter). The cascaded transmission star coupler is formed by fusion splicing the output ports of one star coupler to the input ports of the other. The coupling coefficients and excess losses of the star couplers were measured before and after cascading. Table I lists the results for an 8 X 8 cascaded transmission star coupler. The coupler has an average excess loss of 1.6 dB and a coupler dynamic range of 2.9 dB. The cascaded star coupler has a uniformity comparable with that of a mixing rod star coupler, yet the excess loss is significantly lower. The effect of putting mode scramblers between the two star couplers and the fabrication and performance of cascaded star couplers with more than eight output ports will also be discussed. (13 min)
International Journal of Hydrogen Energy, Nov 1, 2020
h i g h l i g h t s Surface transmutations occurred in deuterium gas cycling experiments of PdAg ... more h i g h l i g h t s Surface transmutations occurred in deuterium gas cycling experiments of PdAg tubes. Zn and Cr not present in PdAg before experiments were observed on PdAg afterwards.
NASA Glenn Research Center is investigating nuclear reactions in deuterated materials exposed to ... more NASA Glenn Research Center is investigating nuclear reactions in deuterated materials exposed to bremsstrahlung photons with kinetic energies from 1-3 MeV. Recent experiments used a continuous beam Dynamitron electron accelerator with a braking target. Electron beam energy loss verification was desired and experiments using cadmium and indium were completed which are known to transition to excited metastable states after exposure to bremsstrahlung photons. The gamma spin-up of 111 Cd, 113 In, and 115 In are with photon beam energies of 1017 keV, 1024 keV, and 941 keV respectively. Recent tests corroborated published gamma energies using a beam energy loss of 62 to 74 keV.
Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research, Sep 1, 2022
arXiv (Cornell University), Apr 3, 2017
Results are presented from an exploratory study involving x-ray irradiation of select deuterated ... more Results are presented from an exploratory study involving x-ray irradiation of select deuterated materials. Titanium deuteride (TiD2) plus deuterated polyethylene ([-CD2-]n; DPE), DPE alone, and for control, hydrogen-based polyethylene ([-CH2-]n; HPE) samples and nondeuterated titanium samples were exposed to x-ray irradiation. These samples were exposed to various energy levels from 65 to 280 kV with prescribed electron flux from 500 to 9000 μA impinging on a tungsten braking target, with total exposure times ranging from 55 to 280 min. Gamma activity was measured using a high-purity germanium (HPGe) detector, and for all samples no gamma activity above background was detected. Alpha and beta activities were measured using a gas proportional counter, and for select samples beta activity was measured with a liquid scintillator spectrometer. The majority of the deuterated materials subjected to the microfocus x-ray irradiation exhibited postexposure beta activity above background and several showed short-lived alpha activity. The HPE and nondeuterated titanium control samples exposed to the x-ray irradiation showed no postexposure alpha or beta activities above background. Several of the samples (SL10A, SL16, SL17A) showed beta activity above background with a greater than 4σ confidence level, months after exposure. Portions of SL10A, SL16, and SL17A samples were also scanned using a beta scintillator and found to have beta activity in the tritium energy band, continuing without noticeable decay for over 12 months. Beta scintillation investigation of as-received materials (before x-ray exposure) showed no beta activity in the tritium energy band, indicating the beta emitters were not in the starting materials.
Cold Fusion, 2020
Abstract Pd/D co-deposition has been used by a number of researchers to explore the condensed mat... more Abstract Pd/D co-deposition has been used by a number of researchers to explore the condensed matter nuclear reactions occurring within the Pd lattice. In Pd/D co-deposition, a cathode and an anode are immersed in a Pd plating solution. Palladium is then electrochemically reduced onto the cathode surface. This results in the generation of highly D-loaded layers of Pd lattice on the cathode surface. Reaction products that have been observed include heat, transmutation, tritium, energetic charged particles, γ-/X-rays, and neutrons.
Current Science, 2015
Columbia Resin-39 (CR-39) detectors used in Pd/D co-deposition experiments were examined using an... more Columbia Resin-39 (CR-39) detectors used in Pd/D co-deposition experiments were examined using an optical microscope, scanned using an automated scanner, and underwent both sequential etching analysis as well as LET spectrum analysis. These analyses identified and quantified the energetic particles responsible for the tracks observed in the CR-39 detectors and made it possible to estimate the branching ratios of the primary and secondary reactions.
Conference on Lasers and Electro-Optics, 1981
International Journal of Hydrogen Energy, 2017
CR-39 detectors were used to detect high energy particles produced during Pd/D co-deposition. Upo... more CR-39 detectors were used to detect high energy particles produced during Pd/D co-deposition. Upon completion of the experiments, the detectors were subjected to either microscopic examination, scanning using an automated scanner to obtain quantitative information on the tracks, sequential etching, or linear energy transfer (LET) spectrum analysis. Both the sequential etching and LET analysis allowed speciation of the particles that caused the tracks as well as estimating their energies. In these experiments it was shown that the tracks coincide with the placement of the Pd deposit. The average number of tracks obtained as a result of
Direct-drive experiments at the University of Rochester's Laboratory for Laser Energetics (LL... more Direct-drive experiments at the University of Rochester's Laboratory for Laser Energetics (LLE) and the Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) are presently addressing issues in pellet compression and heating: efficiency of coupling of laser energy to the target and the coupling of absorbed energy to the fuel, drive uniformity, hydrodynamic stability, preheat arising from laser plasma instabilities and X-rays, and target diagnostics.
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Papers by Lawrence Forsley