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STM-D-0064Report2026Published and peer-reviewed

The Trajectory of Recent Solid State Fusion Results

Lawrence P Forsley

Public domain · full text

In one page

Lawrence Forsley — chief technology officer of Global Energy Corporation and deputy principal investigator on NASA Glenn’s lattice confinement fusion work — wrote this NASA technical memorandum to set the last decade of solid-state fusion results side by side. His point is that two large programmes ran at the same time without knowing about each other. NASA has funded this line since 1989 and restarted it in earnest in 2012; Google Research began funding it in 2014 through Berkeley Lab, the University of British Columbia and MIT. Both ended up in the same journals — Nature, Nature Communications, the Journal of Applied Physics, Physical Review C — and Google’s side produced two granted patents on electron screening. Forsley reports that the newest Nature Communications result finds deuterium–deuterium fusion in metal hydrides flattening onto a floor below about 2 keV instead of dying away exponentially, reproducibly in both palladium and titanium. Those separate efforts, he writes, are what prompted the Department of Energy’s ARPA-E programme and then DARPA’s MARRS programme. He closes with the measurements he wants made next.

Why it matters hereChapter 12 treats the Coulomb barrier as an adjustable quantity rather than a wall, and this memorandum is the paper trail for that reading — the same screening physics turning up in NASA, Google, Canadian and ARPA-E laboratories, in Nature-family journals, in granted patents, and now inside a DARPA programme.

What it claims

  1. 01Electron screening inside a loaded metal lattice increases nuclear reaction rates by about 10¹⁸ times over the bare Gamow factor at centre-of-mass energies well below 5 keV, and the screening equations should now be carried into fusion codes such as INL’s FROG and the University of Rochester’s TriForce.Significance, items 1.2.1–1.2.2

    Published and peer-reviewed

  2. 02Deuterium–deuterium fusion yield in metallic hydrides shows a pronounced plateau — a finite yield floor — below about 2 keV rather than the expected exponential suppression, observed reproducibly in both palladium and titanium hosts.Next Steps, item 3.3.2, quoting Enhanced nuclear fusion in the sub-keV energy regime, Nature Communications, July 2026

    Published and peer-reviewed

  3. 03NASA’s two 2020 Physical Review C papers led to lattice confinement fusion driven by inertial electrostatic confinement, and from there to a commercialised multi-state neutron generator built by Astral Systems Ltd in the United Kingdom.Abstract, paragraph 1

    On the bench now

  4. 04NASA and Google funded the same phenomenon independently and without knowledge of each other — NASA from 1989 and again from 2012, Google Research from 2014 — and those separate efforts provided the impetus for the DoE ARPA-E LENR programme and then the DARPA DSO programme Mechanisms for Amplification of Fusion Reaction Rates in Solids (MARRS).Abstract, paragraphs 1 and 3

    Settled physics

  5. 05The next measurements are to re-process the Berkeley Lab and UC Davis data above 3 MeV to look for the boosted neutrons NASA observed in 2020, and to measure the exit-channel ratio D(d,n)³He to D(d,p)T against the conventional 50:50 split.Next Steps, items 3.1–3.2; Significance, item 3

    What to watch

Read it

Lawrence P. Forsley — Global Energy Corporation; NASA Glenn Research Center. NASA/TM-20260007648.

Abstract

Both NASA and Google have explored and funded Low Energy Nuclear Reactions (LENR) aka Solid-State Fusion or Lattice Confinement Fusion (LCF) research. NASA has funded efforts since 1989, and Google Research began in 2014. Google, and researchers initially-funded by Google, published significant scientific papers in Nature, Nature Communications, the Journal of Applied Physics along with two issued patents. NASA began a significant set of LENR-triggering programs in 2012 resulting in papers in Physical Review C, the Journal of Electroanalytical Chemistry and the Journal of Condensed Matter Nuclear Science. The Phys Rev C papers led to LCF driven by Inertial Electrostatic Confinement (IEC) leading to a multi-state, commercialized neutron generator by Astral Systems, Ltd. in the UK.

NASA and Google engaged researchers across fields of nuclear physics, chemistry, electrochemistry, material science and more. NASA built upon early novel gas pumping experiments followed by the patented work of the US Navy SPAWAR (US 8,419,919, “System and Method to Generate Particles”) and scaling experiments with the Naval Surface Warfare Centers. Google supported researchers at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), the University of British Columbia (UBC), MIT and others. This resulted in patent applications and two granted patents (US 10264661B2, “Target structure for enhanced electron screening” and US 10566094B2 “Enhanced electron screening through plasmon oscillations”).

These separate efforts, unknown to the researchers at the time, provided the impetus for the DoE ARPA-E LENR program followed by the DARPA DSO “Mechanisms for Amplification of Fusion Reaction Rates in Solids” (MARRS) program. This document mentions the overlapping NASA and Google Research efforts in plasma loading and electron screening while emphasizing the results of the latest paper in Nature Communications. The papers and patents cited are listed.

Overview

  1. Recent Related Solid State Fusion Nature Family Papers
    1. “Electrochemical loading enhances deuterium fusion rates in a metal target”, Nature, August 2025
      • Chen, Maiwald, Schauer, Issinski, Garcia, Oldford, Egoriti, Higashino, Vakili, Wen, Koh, Schenkel, Stolar, Brown, & Berlinguett
    2. “Enhanced nuclear fusion in the sub-keV energy regime”, Nature Communications, July 2026
      • Karahadian, Colborne, Persaud, Schenkel & Munday
  2. Related Work
    1. NASA glow and plasma discharge
    2. Electrochemical co-deposition
    3. Bremsstrahlung-photodissociation of deuterons and neutron heating
  3. Next Steps
    1. Look for boosted neutrons as observed by NASA (Phys. Rev. C, April 2020)
    2. Ratio of exit channels: D(d,n)³He/D(d,p)T ratio: e.g. conventional fusion 50:50
    3. Review electron screening findings and equations
      • 0.25 – 6.5 keV center-of-mass deuteron energies
      • “A central experimental finding of this work is the emergence of a pronounced plateau — corresponding to a finite yield floor — in the deuterium–deuterium fusion yield below ~2 keV in metallic hydrides, in stark contrast to the expected exponential suppression at low energies. This behavior is observed reproducibly in both Pd and Ti hosts.” [“Enhanced nuclear fusion in the sub-keV energy regime”, Nature Communications, July 2026]
    4. Cross-compare related papers and patent filings

Plasma discharge and electrolytic loading

Google Research funded 2015–2018

  • “Revisiting the cold case of cold fusion”, Nature, May 2019
  • “Investigation of light ion fusion reactions with plasma discharges”, J. Applied Physics, November 2019
  • US Application 2021/01511206 A1, “Apparatus and Method for Sourcing Fusion Reaction Products” (assigned UBC/Google/UCal/DoE, abandoned)

NASA GRC/SMD funded 2014 – 2020+

Like Google/LBNL, NASA GRC conducted glow/plasma discharge experiments at the same time, but was SBU restricted to prevent discussions.

  • “Plasma Reactor Summary”, NASA TM-2020-220344, May 2020
  • “Plasma Loading and Nuclear Reactions in Condensed Matter”, NASA TM-2022-0009864, July 2022
  • “The History of LENR Research at NASA Glenn Research Center”, JCMNS, 2024

Thistledown Foundation, Nat. Sci. & Eng. Res. Council of Can., Can. Foundation for Innov. and Can. Inst. for Adv. Res.

  • “Electrochemical loading enhances deuterium fusion rates in a metal target”, Nature, August 2025

ARPA-E funded 2023–2025

  • “Enhanced nuclear fusion in the sub-keV energy regime”, Nature Communications, July 2026
  • Neutron and proton data
  • Si Diode charged particle detection — plasma EMI limited
  • Electron Screening data
  • Screening enhancement equations
  • More accurate Ue < 5 keV
  • ? DD fusion ratio: T,p vs ³He,n
  • ? Boosted fusion neutrons

Significance

  1. More Accurate Low Energy Fusion Experiments
    1. Lattice Confinement Fusion/Solid State Fusion
    2. Electron Screening and Equations
      • Increases nuclear reactions 10¹⁸ times over Gamow Factor c.m. much less than 5 keV
      • Apply to INL FROG, UofR TriForce and other nascent fusion codes
  2. Nuclear Diagnostics
    1. Eljen EJ-309, neutron spectrometer
    2. Silicon Diode Detector, charged particles
  3. Data
    1. LBNL or UC Davis boosted neutrons as observed by NASA?
      • Re-process data above 3 MeV
      • Need calibration neutron data for spectrum unfolding
    2. UC Davis fusion proton, neutron ratio?
  4. Algorithms
    1. CAEN Digitizer Firmware
    2. Pulse Shape Discrimination — EMI/gamma discrimination
    3. Neutron unfolding
  5. Publications
    1. Nature, 2019, 2025
    2. Journal of Applied Physics, 2019
    3. Nature Communications, 2026
    4. Patents and Patent Applications, Google, 2017, 2019, 2021
  6. Significance
    1. Support for LENR/Solid State Fusion/LCF patents
    2. Support for LENR/Solid State Fusion/LCF Nature Family publications
    3. Support fusion modeling of hot and condensed matter cold plasmas

Funded and Assigned to Google

  • Provisional US Application 15/668,436 (Aug 3, 2017) → US Application 2019/0043624 A1 (Feb 7, 2019) → US 10,566,094 B2 (Feb 18, 2020), “Enhanced Electron Screening through plasmon oscillations”
  • Provisional US Application 15/668,499 (Aug 3, 2017) → US Application 2019/0045617 A1 (Feb 7, 2019) → US 10,264,661 B2 (Apr 16, 2019), “Target Structure for Enhanced Electron Screening”

Cited papers

  • Google: “Revisiting the cold case of cold fusion”. Nature, 570, May 27, 2019. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-019-1256-6
  • Google: “Investigation of light ion fusion reactions with plasma discharges”, JAP, 126(20), November 25, 2019. https://doi.org/10.1063/1.5109445
  • NASA: “Plasma Reactor Summary”, NASA TM-2020-220344, May 11, 2020.
  • NASA: “Novel Nuclear Reactions Observed in Bremsstrahlung-Irradiated Deuterated Metals”, Phys. Rev. C, 101, 044610, April 20, 2020.
  • NASA: “Electrolytic co-deposition neutron production measured by bubble detectors”, Jelechem, 882, 115024, January 21, 2021. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jelechem.2021.115024
  • NASA: “Plasma Loading and Nuclear Reactions in Condensed Matter”, ICCF-24 LENR Short Course, July 23, 2022, NASA TM-2022-0009864.
  • NASA: “The History of LENR Research at NASA Glenn Research Center”, JCMNS, 38, December 5, 2023. https://doi.org/10.70923/001c.124937
  • Canada: “Electrochemical loading enhances deuterium fusion rates in a metal target”, Nature, 644, August 21, 2025. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-025-09042-7
  • ARPA-E: “Enhanced nuclear fusion in the sub-keV energy regime”, Nature Communications, July 18, 2026. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-026-74421-1

Journal impact factors: Nature 56.1 · Nature Communications ~15.7 · Journal of Electroanalytical Chemistry 4.6 · Physical Review C 3.3 · Journal of Applied Physics 2.7 · Journal of Condensed Matter Nuclear Science 0.3.

Cited patents and patent application

  • System and Method for generating particles — issued 2013
  • Target structure for enhanced electron screening — issued 2019
  • Enhanced electron screening through plasmon oscillations — issued 2020
  • Apparatus and Method for Sourcing Fusion Reaction Products — abandoned 2021

The way in

https://ntrs.nasa.gov/citations/20260007648

How to cite it

Lawrence P Forsley (2026) The Trajectory of Recent Solid State Fusion Results. https://ntrs.nasa.gov/citations/20260007648

Where it sits in the curriculum

Lattice confinement fusion

Provenance: Retrieved 2026-09-07 · sha256 434ec23e1339 · Summary by The Spacetime Metric editorial rail (AI draft from the source text, 2026-09-07)← The library