Desktop nuclear fusion demonstrated

An astonishingly simple demonstration of nuclear fusion in a tabletop device has been performed, involving heating an ordinary crystal soaked in deuterium gas.
While the technique is unlikely to lead to power generation, such a device could act as a portable source of neutrons for analysing materials and medical imaging, and perhaps even spacecraft propulsion.
The key to the system is a crystal made of lithium tantalate. The crystal is asymmetric and, as a result, heating the material causes positive and negative charges to migrate to opposite ends of the crystal, setting up an electric field. The phenomenon is known as the pyroelectric effect.
Desktop nuclear fusion demonstrated

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