"Well," Sheng Xianfu, who was holding the phone, nodded heavily and said in a trembling tone, "We seem to... have succeeded."
Lu Zhou: "...excited?"
Sheng Xianfu said excitedly: "At first we tried to increase the power of the ultrasonic generator, but the neutron value-added rate could not be increased. Finally we discovered that the key to the problem was the deuterium-tritium mixed gas!"
"The idea of using liquid metal as the working solution is correct! According to experimental data, when using liquid lithium as the working solution, we can apply greater sound pressure to the bubbles through the ultrasonic transmitting device! And let the volume of the bubbles collapse The changes are more stable!" In order to restrain the excitement in his heart and make himself speak more clearly, Sheng Xianfu's shoulders were shaking.
Terence Tao: "Like landing on the moon?"
The phone was silent for half a minute.
After heaving a sigh of relief, Lu Zhou said with a speechless face: "Then what are you doing so mysteriously?"
Lu Zhou: "I probably won't study mathematics for a while, but will think about how to use mathematics to change science."
"Hello?"
Lu Zhou: "It can be considered one of them!"
Later, Lu Zhou thought about it carefully and felt that his proposal was indeed somewhat inappropriate, so he did not embarrass Senior Brother Luo. Instead, he asked the finance department of the Institute for Advanced Study to send him US$100,000 in travel expenses, and wished him well in the future. France having fun with new girlfriend.
The design plan of the Hall propulsion unit has been recovered from the wreckage of No. 3. When the five-axis linkage CNC machine tool is installed in the space shuttle assembly center, there will be no problem in the production implementation by Xiao Ai. Now that the problem of miniaturization of controllable fusion has been solved, there is nothing that can stop him from completing the blueprint in his mind.
These days, Lu Zhou has received congratulatory messages from many people.
Looking at the simple-looking black metal round tube placed in the center of the laboratory, Lu Zhou couldn't help but have a trace of fascination on his face.
Not to mention Senior Brother Luo who is still in Europe.
Paired with the Hall propulsion unit he recovered from the wreckage of No. 3, this device will redefine the word aerospace, just as gunpowder redefined war.
Hearing that his suspicion had been verified, Lu Zhou couldn't help but feel happy.
Such as Terence Tao.
It is no exaggeration to say that the entire world will change because of their discovery today...
but…
"What's going on?" Lu Zhou asked immediately as he hurried into the laboratory and quickly found Sheng Xianfu, who was full of excitement.
"We warmed up the injected gas!"
A look of surprise appeared on Lu Zhou's face, and he probably understood what they were doing.
Wang Peng didn't ask any more questions and only replied with one word.
Hearing something was wrong in Sheng Xianfu's voice, Lu Zhou asked immediately without thinking.
Lu Zhou: "What did you do?"
"good."
By heating and ionizing the deuterium-tritium mixed gas, and then pumping it into the liquid lithium through the air inlet, although the ionization temperature of thousands to tens of thousands is nothing compared to the instantaneous temperature of tens of millions of degrees, the expansion state When the ionized gas is pumped into liquid lithium, it will have a larger surface area than at normal temperature, and the energy transferred by the sound field to the bubble will also increase.
Upon hearing this, Sheng Xianfu almost lost his breath, coughed a few times and said, "What exploded again! We are not studying bombs, why are we so nervous?"
Lu Zhou quickly walked to the door of the laboratory. Before his front feet even touched the door, he heard deafening cheers erupting in the laboratory, and the glass trembled.
Lu Zhou's heart moved and he immediately asked: "Heating and ionizing the deuterium and tritium mixed gas?"
Of course, even now it seems that this "reactor" is still very crude. Both in terms of power and energy utilization, it is far inferior to the large-area magnetic confinement fusion device like Pangu Pile. It cannot be reused. The high cost also makes it almost impossible to use in general transportation.
Among them are students he taught at Princeton and colleagues at work, colleagues with whom he had brief exchanges or exchanged business cards at academic conferences, and friends with whom he had in-depth exchanges.
In such a case, the sharply collapsed bubble will obtain a greater instantaneous temperature, thus reaching the conditions for the DT fusion reaction to occur!
After that, Lu Zhou hung up the phone and continued to call Wang Peng.
People safe is good.
Twenty minutes' drive later, a black Hongqi car stopped at the entrance of the institute.
On the phone, Terence Tao smiled and sent congratulations: "Congratulations, another Millennium Problem has fallen in front of you. Maybe the Clay Institute should update their 'question bank'. By the way, it's convenient to reveal your Next topic?”
After getting out of the car, Lu Zhou quickly passed through the institute's entrance guard without stopping and walked straight to a corner of the institute.
Considering its superiority in volumetric energy density and power advantage over fission batteries, even if it is "slightly" more expensive, it still has flaws.
It seems that he plans to waste all his money and then come back...
"Meet me downstairs in Shuyuan."
Senior Brother Luo did not refuse the money. Not only that, he even asked him for an extra month of leave.
"Did it explode again? Did anyone get hurt? Is the equipment I borrowed okay?"
"professor… "
Since the last safety incident, the laboratory of the controllable fusion miniaturization research team has been moved from the corner of the Institute to a temporary warehouse next to the institute. Even so, people who occasionally pass by here walk around unconsciously.
The two had worked closely together when they were studying Goldbach's conjecture, and their relationship in private has been good ever since. Academically, both of them are all-round scholars, and their research scope covers almost all directions in the field of mathematics, so there is a lot to talk about.
"Why did you fail last time?"
"I'll come over right away. We'll talk about it after we meet."
Lu Zhou: "..."
Sheng Xianfu said with joy on his face: "Exactly!"
In the end, Senior Brother Luo stubbornly refused to accept his proposal and said that he would bring back the Clay Institute's check intact and hand it over to Lu Zhou.
Sheng Xianfu touched the bridge of his nose awkwardly: "Aren't I excited?"
However, this kind of miniaturized fusion power generation device itself is not used to provide energy for production and life, so this shortcoming does not matter.
In a sense, fusion reactions are more terrifying than ordinary bombs, right
But he was more concerned about how they did it than the success itself.
Standing next to Sheng Xianfu, Professor Li Changxia also said with excitement: "We have discovered a more stable method to achieve controllable fusion! We are once again ahead of the world!"
Terence Tao: "This sounds very exciting. My wife works for NASA and always shares things with me that are far away from my research field. If you succeed one day, remember to save a seat for me. , I have never traveled to the moon in my life.”
Lu Zhou smiled and joked: "There will be such a day. Who knows when I will hold an academic lecture on the moon."
Lu Zhou took out his cell phone and saw that it was Sheng Xianfu calling. Lu Zhou didn't hesitate and pressed the connect button immediately.
"yes… "
After hanging up the phone, Lu Zhou stood up from his office chair and was about to go downstairs to the cafeteria for lunch. Not long after he put it in his pocket, his cell phone rang again.
Lu Zhou calmed down, took a deep breath and said.