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Contact: Jason Gorssgorssj@rpi.edu 518-276-6098Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute 'Double crystal fusion' could pave the way for portable device An internal view of the vacuum chamber containing the fusion device, showing two pyroelectric crystals that generate a powerful electric field when heated or cooled. Credit: Rensselaer/Danon Click here for a high resolution photograph. Researchers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute have developed a tabletop accelerator that produces nuclear fusion at room temperature, providing confirmation of an earlier experiment conducted at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), while offering substantial improvements over the original design. The device, which uses two opposing crystals to generate a...

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- April 28, 2005 Itty-Bitty and Shrinking, Fusion Device Has Big Ideas By KENNETH CHANG n a surprising feat of miniaturization, scientists are reporting today that they have produced nuclear fusion - the same process that powers the sun - in a footlong cylinder just five inches in diameter. And they say they will soon be able to make the device even smaller. While the device is probably too inefficient to produce electricity or other forms of energy, the scientists say, egg-size fusion generators could someday find uses in spacecraft thrusters, medical treatments and scanners that search for bombs. The...