Editing Nuclear fusion (section)

=== Early experiments ===
[[File:27-inch cyclotron.jpg|thumb|[[M. Stanley Livingston]] and [[Ernest Lawrence]] in front of UCRL's 27-inch [[cyclotron]] in 1934. These devices were used for many early experiments demonstrating deuterium fusion.]]
During the 1920s, [[Patrick Blackett]] made the first conclusive experiments in artificial [[nuclear transmutation]] at the [[Cavendish Laboratory]]. There, [[John Cockcroft]] and [[Ernest Walton]] built [[Cockcroft–Walton generator|their generator]] on the inspiration of Gamow's paper. In April 1932, they published experiments on the reaction: 

:{{nuclide|link=yes|lithium|7}} + [[Proton|p]] →  {{SimpleNuclide|X|8}} → 2 {{Nuclide|helium|4|link=yes}}
where the intermediary nuclide was later confirmed to be the extremely short-lived [[beryllium-8]].<ref name="b4852">{{cite journal |last1=COCKCROFT |first1=J. D. |last2=WALTON |first2=E. T. S. |year=1932 |title=Disintegration of Lithium by Swift Protons |url=https://www.nature.com/articles/129649a0.pdf |journal=Nature |publisher=Springer Science and Business Media LLC |volume=129 |issue=3261 |pages=649 |doi=10.1038/129649a0 |issn=0028-0836 |access-date=2025-02-19 |doi-access=free|bibcode=1932Natur.129..649C }}</ref> This has a claim to the first artificial fusion reaction.{{Citation needed|date=February 2025}} 

In papers from July and November 1933, [[Ernest Lawrence]] et. al. at the [[UCRL|University of California Radiation Laboratory]], in some of the earliest [[cyclotron]] experiments, accidentally produced the first [[Deuterium-deuterium fusion|deuterium-deuterium]] fusion reactions:  
: {{nuclide|Deuterium}} + {{nuclide|Deuterium}} → {{nuclide|Tritium}} + p
: {{nuclide|Deuterium}} + {{nuclide|Deuterium}} → {{nuclide|Helium|3}} + {{SubatomicParticle|10neutron}}

The Radiation Lab, only detecting the resulting energized protons and neutrons,<ref name="n665">{{cite journal |last1=Lawrence |first1=Ernest O. |last2=Livingston |first2=M. Stanley |last3=Lewis |first3=Gilbert N. |date=1933-07-01 |title=The Emission of Protons from Various Targets Bombarded by Deutons of High Speed |journal=Physical Review |volume=44 |issue=1 |pages=56 |doi=10.1103/PhysRev.44.56 |bibcode=1933PhRv...44...56L |issn=0031-899X}}</ref><ref name="m978">{{cite journal |last1=Livingston |first1=M. Stanley |last2=Henderson |first2=Malcolm C. |last3=Lawrence |first3=Ernest O. |date=1933-11-01 |title=Neutrons from Deutons and the Mass of the Neutron |journal=Physical Review |volume=44 |issue=9 |pages=781–782 |doi=10.1103/PhysRev.44.781 |bibcode=1933PhRv...44..781L |issn=0031-899X}}</ref> misinterpreted the source as an exothermic disintegration of the deuterons, now known to be impossible.<ref name="m343">{{cite journal |last=Lestone |first=J. P. |date=2024-09-02 |title=Some of the History Surrounding the Oliphant et al. Discovery of dd Fusion and an Inference of the d(d,p)t Cross Section from This 1934 Paper |journal=Fusion Science and Technology |volume=80 |issue=sup1 |page= |doi=10.1080/15361055.2024.2339644 |issn=1536-1055 |doi-access=free}}</ref> In May 1934, [[Mark Oliphant]], [[Paul Harteck]], and [[Ernest Rutherford]] at the Cavendish Laboratory,<ref name="v423">{{cite journal |date=1934 |title=Transmutation effects observed with heavy hydrogen |journal=Proceedings of the Royal Society of London. Series A, Containing Papers of a Mathematical and Physical Character |volume=144 |issue=853 |pages=692–703 |doi=10.1098/rspa.1934.0077 |issn=0950-1207 |doi-access=free|bibcode=1934RSPSA.144..692O |last1=Oliphant |first1=M. L. E. |last2=Harteck |first2=P. |last3=Rutherford |first3=Lord }}</ref> published an intentional deuterium fusion experiment, and made the discovery of both [[tritium]] and [[helium-3]]. This is widely considered the first experimental demonstration of fusion.<ref name="m343" />

In 1938, Arthur Ruhlig at the [[University of Michigan]] made the first observation of [[deuterium–tritium fusion|deuterium–tritium (DT) fusion]] and its characteristic 14 MeV neutrons, now known as the most favourable reaction: 
: {{nuclide|Deuterium}} + {{nuclide|Tritium}} →  {{nuclide|Helium|4}} + {{SubatomicParticle|10neutron}}