Abstract
We have repeated the experiment of Taleyarkhan et al. [Science 295, 1868 (2002)] in an attempt to detect the emission of neutrons from fusion during bubble collapse in deuterated acetone. Using the same cavitation apparatus, a more sophisticated data acquisition system, and a larger scintillator detector, we find no evidence for 2.5-MeV neutron emission correlated with sonoluminescence form collapsing bubbles. Any neutron emission that might occur is at least 4 orders of magnitude too small to explain the tritium production reported in Taleyarkhan et al. as being due to fusion. We show that proper allowance for random coincidence rates in such experiments requires the simultaneous measurement of the count rates in the individual detectors.
- Received 17 July 2002
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.89.104302
©2002 American Physical Society