Measurements of Helium in Electrolyzed Palladium

Abstract

The result of a double-blind, cold fusion experiment are reported, in which six laboratories measured the helium content of five identically shaped 2-mm-diam {times} 10-cm-long palladium rods supplied by Fleischmann and Pons. Three rods were initially implanted with {sup 4}He. Before analysis, three of the rods had served as cathodes during electrolysis in cold fusion experiments: two in 0.1 M LiOD, and one in 0.1 M LiOH. The other two, one implanted and one not, served as references. The major observations reported on in this paper are as follows: All the materials, including the as-received palladium stock, contained easily measured quantities of {sup 4}He, well above amounts normally found in high-purity palladium. The {sup 4}He could be totally removed from at least two of the materials, including the as-received palladium stock, by surface etching the samples to a depth of {approximately}25 {mu}m. Helium implanted by alpha-particle bombardment remained in the electrodes through out the electrolysis. No {sup 3}He was measured above detection limits in any of the materials by any of the six laboratories.