Interpretation of EUV emissions observed by Mills et al.

Abstract

Abstract. An explanation of the so-called hydrino continuum emissions proposed by Mills and Lu, most recently in [Eur. Phys. J. D 64, 65 (2011)], is presented using conventional atomic, plasma, and discharge physics. It is argued that the observed EUV emissions during their pulsed discharges originate from transitions in ions sputtered or evaporated from the electrodes. Such an interpretation removes their justification for the introduction of hydrino particles.Recently, Mills and Lu have published extreme ultraviolet (EUV) spectra from pulsed discharges, which they claim prove the existence of so-called hydrino atoms (hydrogen atoms with states having a fractional principal quantum number) [1][2][3][4]. The discharges were produced using various fill gases and cathode materials. The observed spectra could not be explained by Mills et al. using conventional physics, which allowed them to interpret the data as evidence for their hydrino model. In the present paper, it is argued that the observed spectra are, in fact, emissions from low charge-state ions sputtered or evaporated from the electrodes plus some impurity ion emission. The continuum appearance is explained as being made up of densely spaced lines that are not fully resolved. Specific points are:Mills et al. claim [1][2][3][4] there are no differences in the observed discharge spectra when different electrode materials are used. In Figures 1 through 3 spectra have been digitized 1 from plots of Mills et al. [1][2][3][4] for emission observed with cathodes made of tungsten (W), molybdenum (Mo), and tantalum (Ta). These traces show instead that the spectra differ considerably with electrode material. The dependence on material is especially clear in Figures 1a and 1b, where discharges with W and Mo cathodes using a hydrogen (H 2 ) fill gas are compared.Mills et al. [1][2][3][4] further state that the observed emission cannot be explained as line emission by atoms or ions from the metal electrodes. Here it is shown that much of a e-mail: avp@jila.colorado.edu 1 Because requested original data tabulations have not been made available, the data shown for Mills et al. are obtained by digitizing figures selected for minimum diffusiveness and non-overlapping curves from the referenced publications and "secured" preprint files. Thus, for the data of reference [4] in Figures 1 and 2, the pixel width seen by the digitizer software is larger than the nominal spectrometer resolution of 0.05 nm.the emission can indeed be explained as line radiation from low charge states of sputtered or evaporated high-Z metal ions. In Figure 1a the spectrum of Mills et al. is plotted together with W spectra observed by Clementson et al. [5] 2 from an electron beam ion trap (EBIT). The data were acquired using a grazing-incidence instrument with a resolution of 0.04 nm full width half maximum (FWHM) at an EBIT electron-beam energy of 150 ± 10 eV. This energy is high enough to create W ions with charge states up to 8+ [6]. Very similar spectra at lower resolution (not shown) have been ...

Mechanism of soft x-ray continuum radiation from low-energy pinch discharges of hydrogen and ultra-low field ignition of solid fuels

“…In contrast, there is no continuum with oxygen, argon, helium, nitrogen, air, or mixtures, for example. The short wavelength radiation in the 10-22 nm region of a Mo anode H 2 pinch plasma did not match conventional plasma models as pointed out by Phelps and Clementson [36] wherein the authors could not exclude a hydrino explanation. The continuum cannot be explained as due to H sputtering as suggested by Phelps and Clementson since H + is accelerated towards and bombards the cathode; yet, the continuum is independent of the cathode metal.…”

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