We report the discovery of the new phenomenon of energetic alpha emission (up to 16.0MeV), and proton emission (∼1.7MeV), from a metal surface possessing a large affinity for hydrogen and loaded/excited by electrolysis, glow discharge or powerful laser. Various experiments on charged particle emission show a remarkable feature: all exhibit a similar yield per unit input energy of energetic alph...

Hydrogen loading of 99.98% pure natural uranium foils (0.18 mm thick) was performed by aqueous electrolysis in order to compare with glow discharge results. Alpha, beta, and gamma specific radioactivity were measured after hydrogen loading and compared with the control. Some of the samples revealed an increase of the specific radioactivity of up to 20%. Gamma ray spectroscopy was also performed...

Emission spectra from a DC plasma discharge of nitrogen with a graphite cathode used for deposition of CNx layers were investigated in the visible range 350-900 nm. The spectra recorded at low and high resolution from both the negative glow and the positive column of the discharge were studied separately. All spectra are dominated by neutral and ionised N2 emission. In the positive column the v...

We describe the design, construction, and operation of a simple glow discharge unit that can be used to make surfaces such as carbon-coated electron microscopy grids and glass coverslips hydrophilic. The use of a vacuum leak detector (Tesla coil) in place of a conventional high-voltage power supply and a small plastic desiccator for the vacuum chamber make the unit very inexpensive. Owing to th...

As part of an ongoing research effort on plasma actuators for flow control, a numerical study of DC glow discharges and γ-mode RF glow discharges has been carried out. For simplicity, the study focused on two-dimensional problems. Several experimentally observed features of these discharges were reproduced in the numerical computations, including the expansion of the electrode spot with increas...

In order to understand the details of high-field breakdown in microstructures that are vacuum packaged, a series of experiments are used to determine characteristics of microdischarges. It is found that many of these contradict conventional assumptions based upon large scale discharges. When planar microelectrodes are used, Paschen’s curve is not followed; the anode and cathode current paths ar...

An experimental investigation of dust acoustic ~DA! waves in a dc glow discharge plasma is described. The glow discharge is formed between a 3 cm anode disk and the grounded walls of a 60 cm diameter vacuum chamber which is filled with nitrogen gas at a pressure of about 100 mTorr. Dust located on a tray in the chamber is attracted into the plasma where it is trapped electrostatically. The dust...

Experiments in a low pressure glow discharge on gases of environmental relevance: CO2,CO y O2 are reported. We studied the various atomic processes: ionization, excitation and molecular dissociation with typical discharge parameters of p∼0.6 mbar, I≤ 0.1 A and V∼1100 Volts. We used visible and near UV spectroscopy to observe the emitted radiation on both electrodes on pure gases and hydrogen se...

The performance of Glow Discharge Optical Emission Spectrometry for matrix independent oxygen determination was investigated using the spectral lines atomic at 130 nm and 777 standard...