Effects of Superconductor Electron Screening on Fusion Reaction Rates

Abstract

This research explores fusion cross section enhancements from electron screening within superconductors, and the feasibility of engineering a system to extract the energy from a superconductor fusion system. There have been claims that superconductors will exhibit superscreening which could significantly increase fusion cross sections. However, there is currently no widely accepted theory to explain superconductor electron screening. This research evaluated if a net energy gain could result from fusion events within superconducting PdD. With the widely accepted critical temperature of 11 K for PdD, no net energy gain would be expected from fusion reactions. However, net energy gain may be possible if a superconductor were developed with a transition temperature above 75 K. With the uncertainty of superconductor electron screening and the possibility of fusion energy extraction, an experiment was designed to close the knowledge gap. By bombarding deuterons onto PdD below the superconducting transition temperature, the superconductor screening contribution can be determined with a 38% average uncertainty of the screening energy with 95% confidence.