We described in the last report that we found we needed two “cleaning “ shots with deuterium to remove boron deposits on the anode and insulator. In our most recent tests, we had dramatic evidence of the critical importance of these shots and of getting rid of the deposits.
In the first deuterium cleaning shot after the decaborane shot, we got a very low fusion yield, only a bit more than 1 mJ or a billion neutrons. This is what we often get for the first cleaning shot—which occurs with a heavy coating of boron. We then did a deuterium-nitrogen mix shot, which cleans the anode while the pure deuterium shot cleans the insulator. Because we were testing a switch repair, we then repeated the deuterium shot and got a pleasant surprise.
The yield jumped to 220 mJ or 220 billion neutrons—over one hundred times more than the first deuterium shot! This was the highest deuterium yield we have achieved since our all-time record shot back in May 2016 and was only 10% lower fusion yield than that shot. The next shot after another mix shot got 200 mJ, showing that the yield is not a one-off fluke.
The improvement in yield shows that with decaborane we must achieve clean electrodes and insulator before we can get fusion with boron. But it also gives us confidence that once we do achieve this—for example with better heating—we can make rapid progress.
Let’s make rapid progress to our next goal of $100,000. We’re now visible on the Wefunder home page, and the more we raise, the more visible we become. We have $44,000 to go to get to the goal by April 18th. So let’s raise $3,000 every day!
