Nuclear Fusion Reactions in Metals : Do Metals Provide a Special Environment for Nuclear Reactions?

Abstract

The D+D fusion reactions in metals were measured with bombarding energies down to kcV, far below the Coulomb barrier. It was shown that the reaction rate depends on the host metals very much ; in some metals observed were unexpectedly large enhancement of the reaction rate. Similar enhancement was seen for the Li+D reaction in metal. The observed enhancement cannot be explained by the known screening mechanism alone but suggests the existence of an additional and important mechanism to enhance the reaction rate in metals.