THE prospect of cheap energy from tabletop “bubble fusion” seems as far from reality as ever, with its biggest proponent under scrutiny following the failure of others to reproduce his results.
Bubble fusion is the idea that blasting a liquid with sound can make bubbles grow within it and then collapse, generating high enough temperatures to trigger thermonuclear fusion. Rusi Taleyarkhan, a nuclear engineer at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana, has published a steady stream of papers over the past few years claiming bubble fusion works. Other researchers have tried and failed to reproduce his work.
In January, Taleyarkhan released for the first time raw data of the energy spectrum of the neutrons he claimed were by-products of fusion reactions. His results were re-analysed by Brian Naranjo, a graduate student at Seth Putterman’s lab at the University of California, Los Angeles. Naranjo concludes there is less than a one in a million chance that fusion could have produced the observed spectrum. It is, however, a good match for neutrons emitted by the element californium, Naranjo says, and he has submitted his conclusions for publication. Taleyarkhan admits there was californium near his experiment but denies it is the source of the neutrons he saw. “I was very shocked by the allegations,” he told 91av.
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“Other researchers have tried and failed to reproduce the bubble fusion results”
Purdue University’s own internal inquiry into the allegations is expected to last several months.
