Carl Willis

[guest]

Hello!

Back in '93 or so, when I visited his lab as a seventh-grader, Richard Hull fired his then-most-recent Tesla magnifier. Needless to say, I left the lab impressed- twelve foot arcs are certainly impressive- but I was even more astounded to note the quality of science that a motivated amateur can pursue with his own space and funds.

I have been fairly active in high-voltage physics ever since. I have done a lot with vacuum-tube Tesla coils, in many sizes and configurations, attempting to learn how to make them efficient and easy to design and control. I built a railgun based on a pulse capacitor recently; I've done various small RF and high voltage projects. Pyrotechnics, PIG ion sources, and acoustic resonance spectroscopy are some other areas in which I have experience.

My fusor effort is the most recent project I am working on. Parts, power supply, deuterium, neutron counter, and vacuum system are all assembled / procured; what remains is some machining and a better software DAQ system to interface the neutron counter. I hope to first look at the effect of different cathode grids and grid diameters on neutron output, but there's a lot I ultimately want to do with this most interesting particle accelerator. This project is partly funded by Guilford College, where I am majoring in physics and chemistry.

Thanks to The Perfesser for running this invaluable discussion site!