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Theory predicts electrons play a detrimental role in creating the conditions for D-D fusion in pyroelectric crystal accelerators. Three different pyroelectric crystal sizes were paired in six different configurations to determine if experimental results agree with theory. An experimental configuration using a 30 mm diameter tip crystal opposite a 20 mm diameter target crystal yielded better neutron results than a 20 mm diameter tip crystal versus a 30 mm diameter target crystal as predicted by theory. Two 20 mm diameter by 20 mm thick lithium tantalate crystals yielded ~1 × 10 4 neutrons per thermal cycle.

The Nuclear Science and Engineering Research Center (NSERC), a Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) office located at the United States Military Academy (USMA), sponsors and manages cadet and faculty research in support of DTRA objectives. The NSERC has created an experimental pyroelectric crystal accelerator program to enhance undergraduate education at USMA in the Department of Physics and Nuclear Engineering. This program provides cadets with hands-on experience in designing their own experiments using an inexpensive tabletop accelerator. This device uses pyroelectric crystals to ionize and accelerate gas ions to energies of ~100 keV. Within the next year, cadets and faculty at USMA will use this device to create neutrons through the deuterium-deuterium (D-D) fusion process, effectively creating a compact, portable neutron generator. The double crystal pyroelectric accelerator will also be used by students to investigate neutron, x-ray, and ion spectroscopy.