{"id":{"repo_id":"uiuc","oai_identifier":"oai:www.ideals.illinois.edu:2142/115527"},"canonical_url":"https://search.dev.ndltd.org/etd/uiuc/oai:www.ideals.illinois.edu:2142/115527","repository":{"repo_id":"uiuc","name":"University of Illinois - Urbana-Champaign","base_url":"https://www.ideals.illinois.edu/oai-pmh"},"display":{"title":"An experimental investigation of low energy nuclear reactions in a DC glow discharge","abstract":"Submission published under a 24 month embargo labeled 'U of I Access', the embargo will last until 2024-05-01","abstract_html":"Submission published under a 24 month embargo labeled 'U of I Access', the embargo will last until 2024-05-01","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Ziehm, Erik"],"institution":"University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign","degree_name":"Ph.D.","degree_level":"Dissertation","degree_discipline":"Nuclear, Plasma, Radiolgc Engr","degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":["Miley, George H","Curreli, Davide","Di Fulvio, Angela","Kim, Kyekyoon","Ruzic, David N"],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2022,"date_issued":"2022-05","date_published":"2022-05","updated_at":"2026-07-22T22:24:54Z","subjects":["LENR","SSNTD","CR-39","energetic particles","nuclear reactions in metal","glow discharge","palladium deuteride"],"languages":["en","eng"],"rights":["Copyright 2022 Erik Ziehm"],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://hdl.handle.net/2142/115527","outbound_label":"Handle","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor","label":"Contributor","values":["Miley, George H","Curreli, Davide","Di Fulvio, Angela","Kim, Kyekyoon","Ruzic, David N"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Ziehm, Erik"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date","label":"Dc Date","values":["2022-05","2022-04-22"]},{"key":"dc:type","label":"Dc Type","values":["text","Thesis"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_discipline","label":"Discipline","values":["Nuclear, Plasma, Radiolgc Engr"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["Dissertation"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["Ph.D."]},{"key":"thesis:institution_name","label":"Thesis Institution Name","values":["University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["LENR","SSNTD","CR-39","energetic particles","nuclear reactions in metal","glow discharge","palladium deuteride"]}]},{"id":"language_rights","label":"Language and Rights","entries":[{"key":"dc:language","label":"Dc Language","values":["en","eng"]},{"key":"dc:rights","label":"Dc Rights","values":["Copyright 2022 Erik Ziehm"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["https://hdl.handle.net/2142/115527"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description","label":"Description","values":["Submission published under a 24 month embargo labeled 'U of I Access', the embargo will last until 2024-05-01","The student, Erik Ziehm, accepted the attached license on 2022-04-05 at 11:20.","The student, Erik Ziehm, submitted this Dissertation for approval on 2022-04-05 at 11:34.","This Dissertation was approved for publication on 2022-04-22 at 13:17.","DSpace SAF Submission Ingestion Package generated from Vireo submission #17586 on 2022-11-11 at 11:56:01","This work addresses the possibility of low energy nuclear reactions within a DC glow deuterium discharge with palladium electrodes. The hypothesis is that the dynamics typically used in plasma for nuclear reactions must be modified while the reactants are within a dynamic solid-state metallic system. In this work, a DC glow deuterium plasma simultaneously implants deuterons into the cathode and causes crystalline deformations, which act as trapping sites for the mobile interstitial deuterons. A Solid-State Nuclear Track Detector (SSNTD), called CR-39, was chosen as the technique to investigate the emission of energetic charged particles from the cathode. While other research has used this type of detector, this is the first application in a low voltage DC plasma discharge, i.e., a discharge with electrodes biased below 1 kV. A new analysis technique was developed, which allowed rapid scanning of large CR-39 surfaces. The new method amassed considerably more data than previous studies. After plasma treatments of Pd, tracks in the CR-39 detectors consistently corresponded to 138 ± 21 keV alpha particles emitted from the palladium electrodes. The track densities for deuterium discharges were often ∼100 times above controls with hydrogen and helium. Currently, there are no known means to accelerate ions to these energies within the apparatus. The production of energetic alpha particles with no source of helium or a means to accelerate the ions to such high energies indicate a nuclear reaction occurred. From alpha particle trajectory estimates, it was concluded the reactions originated at the Pd electrodes. This work provides future researchers the basis for establishing a theory for creating Low Energy Nuclear Reactions (LENR)."]},{"key":"dc:format","label":"Dc Format","values":["application/pdf"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["An experimental investigation of low energy nuclear reactions in a DC glow discharge"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor":["Miley, George H","Curreli, Davide","Di Fulvio, Angela","Kim, Kyekyoon","Ruzic, David N"],"dc:creator":["Ziehm, Erik"],"dc:date":["2022-05","2022-04-22"],"dc:description":["Submission published under a 24 month embargo labeled 'U of I Access', the embargo will last until 2024-05-01","The student, Erik Ziehm, accepted the attached license on 2022-04-05 at 11:20.","The student, Erik Ziehm, submitted this Dissertation for approval on 2022-04-05 at 11:34.","This Dissertation was approved for publication on 2022-04-22 at 13:17.","DSpace SAF Submission Ingestion Package generated from Vireo submission #17586 on 2022-11-11 at 11:56:01","This work addresses the possibility of low energy nuclear reactions within a DC glow deuterium discharge with palladium electrodes. The hypothesis is that the dynamics typically used in plasma for nuclear reactions must be modified while the reactants are within a dynamic solid-state metallic system. In this work, a DC glow deuterium plasma simultaneously implants deuterons into the cathode and causes crystalline deformations, which act as trapping sites for the mobile interstitial deuterons. A Solid-State Nuclear Track Detector (SSNTD), called CR-39, was chosen as the technique to investigate the emission of energetic charged particles from the cathode. While other research has used this type of detector, this is the first application in a low voltage DC plasma discharge, i.e., a discharge with electrodes biased below 1 kV. A new analysis technique was developed, which allowed rapid scanning of large CR-39 surfaces. The new method amassed considerably more data than previous studies. After plasma treatments of Pd, tracks in the CR-39 detectors consistently corresponded to 138 ± 21 keV alpha particles emitted from the palladium electrodes. The track densities for deuterium discharges were often ∼100 times above controls with hydrogen and helium. Currently, there are no known means to accelerate ions to these energies within the apparatus. The production of energetic alpha particles with no source of helium or a means to accelerate the ions to such high energies indicate a nuclear reaction occurred. From alpha particle trajectory estimates, it was concluded the reactions originated at the Pd electrodes. This work provides future researchers the basis for establishing a theory for creating Low Energy Nuclear Reactions (LENR)."],"dc:format":["application/pdf"],"dc:identifier":["https://hdl.handle.net/2142/115527"],"dc:language":["en","eng"],"dc:rights":["Copyright 2022 Erik Ziehm"],"dc:subject":["LENR","SSNTD","CR-39","energetic particles","nuclear reactions in metal","glow discharge","palladium deuteride"],"dc:title":["An experimental investigation of low energy nuclear reactions in a DC glow discharge"],"dc:type":["text","Thesis"],"thesis:degree_discipline":["Nuclear, Plasma, Radiolgc Engr"],"thesis:degree_level":["Dissertation"],"thesis:degree_name":["Ph.D."],"thesis:institution_name":["University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-22T22:24:54Z"}