Experimental Instrument For Rydberg Research 1, a) 1 S. Zeiner-Gundersen and S. Olafsson Science Institute, University of Iceland, Dunhaga 3,107 Reykjavik, Iceland, Email: [email protected] (Dated: 15 May 2020) In this paper, we report on a versatile and Rydberg Matter experimental instrument for the study of Rydberg Matter, charged particles and radiation from Hydrogen in Rydberg Matter. The system allows re- searchers to attach different detectors to the chamber to study Rydberg Matter or excited Hydrogen under different conditions. We show how the system is used to excite Hydrogen to Rydberg atoms while monitoring Rydberg states using laser and time-of-flight (TOF) on ions, radiation monitoring, and conductivity measurements. We verify some of the work of converting Hydrogen to relativistic charged particles, Muon, x-Ray and neutron emission. This experi- mental instrument can further be used to replicate more of the work performed by Prof. Leif Holmlid and the research group at Gothenburg University on Rydberg Matter and ultra dense hydrogen (UDH). Keywords: Rydberg Matter, time-of-flight, kinetic energy release, radiation, conductivity.

I. INTRODUCTION (RM)7–10. First Leif was able to study RM and later gave evidence for a new form of high-density hydrogen UDH were 11–13 Rydberg matter of Hydrogen is a new matter of state of pair distance of 2.3pm was seen . Further laser pulse Hydrogen recently researched in some details1. Here we induced TOF study showed very fast particle disintegration 14 describe a new collection of instrument setups specially of the UHD with MeV energies . Also, radiation has designed to replicate this pioneering work, and to study its been detected from UDH with circumstantial interpretation 15–18 properties. The instrument collection consists of instruments as muons, Pi-Mesons and K-mesons . Neutron emission such as catalytic production cells, Hydrogen isotope from nuclear processes in ultra-dense Hydrogen and Muon 19–21 manipulation and cleaning and the UHV vacuum system. catalyzed fusion may also has have been detected . Characterization and monitoring instruments include time- There is additional surprise seen in measurements, with of-flight (TOF), radiation detection (Scintillation detector, no laser excitations, where a strange signal of spontaneous HpGe double radiation detector, cloud chamber) and radiation, possibly muons, has been observed from the UDH 13,18,22 electrical transport property cells. matter .

Rydberg matter of Hydrogen H(RM) is a catalyzed pro- The instrumental setup described here is a result of coop- cess were Hydrogen Rydberg atoms condense to a eration over the past three years between the University of structure on the surface of the catalyst. Manykin et al. Iceland, Norrønt AS laboratories in Norway and Leif Holmlid 2 first proposed the Rydberg matter state of atoms in 1980 . in Gothenburg. It has evolved greatly over these years with This was experimentally observed a few years later by instrumentation built in Norway and Iceland at the same time. Lundin, Pettersson and Leif Holmlid at the University Of The Icelandic setup is mainly described here but the experi- 3,4 Gothenburg . Leif Holmlid has since 1989 conducted an mental results presented in this paper are from both laborato- extensive set of research1 that has been largely gone without ries. further experimental confirmation by other research groups. The main reason is the special nature of his instruments and further very controversial and sometimes highly unbelievable interpretations that he has published. This paper describes the instrumentation that has been used to replicate some of his work and in some cases extended his methods, but the II. EXPERIMENTAL SETUP instruments do not fully cover the range of instruments that he has used. An overview picture of the Rydberg Matter setup is shown A powerful tool to study Hydrogen Rydberg Matter was in figure 1. It is composed of several supporting vacuum developed at the end of 1980 called Hydrogen Rydberg “tag- lines and vacuum chambers and cells. The system has ging” time-of-flight (TOF) technique (HRTOF)5,6. A similar two arms joined by the central turbo pump vacuum system TOF method was used by Prof. Leif Holmlids research equipped with RGA. The left-arm contains the TOF flight group from Gothenburg University with mass spectroscopy line while the right arm contains the gas delivery system and (TOF-MS) extensively from 1990-2015 to give this following several optional cell ports for different experiments. One picture of Rydberg Matter and Hydrogen Rydberg Matter such experiment is the Ultra high vacuum chamber with an electrical property cell mounted. Different parts of the system are isolated with CF35 gate valves. a)Science Institute, University of Iceland, Dunhaga 3,107 Reykjavik, Iceland

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FIG. 1. Overview of complete experimental instrument for Hydrogen Rydberg atoms and Hydrogen Rydberg Matter research. (1) TOF experimental line, (2) Turbo pump, (3) Gas system, (4) Ultra high vacuum chamber, 5) YAG laser for the TOF line.

A. Vacuum system and gas system

The main system is pumped by (2) Agilent Navigator 301 turbomolecular pumps back pumped by Kashiyama Neodry 7E oil free dry vacuum pump. The system can then reach base pressure of 10E-8 to 10E-9 mbar if it is properly out-baked. Rydberg matter can in principle thrive in non-UHV systems but here it is possible to study Rydberg matter in purer en- vironment. The Ultra High Vaccum chamber (5) is a small system that is pumped with two pumps, TwissTorr 84FS turbo pump back pumped by the other turbo pump and the D-100 SAES combined ion and getter pump that can reach base pres- sure of 10E-10. Gate valves can isolate the pumps from the each other and the electrical property cells. The gas feeding system is shown in Figure 2. Hydrogen gas enters from the top and is purified through a Nupure 1000XL gas purifier with valves. The gas system comprises on left a Hydrogen gas line and right Deuterium FIG. 2. Gas feeding system. gas line. The left gas feeding line can deliver gas to both the TOF instrument and the and the backside of the turbomolecu- lar pump on the ultra-high vacuum chamber at the same time. pressure sensors. Both the left and the right gas lines have The right gas feeding line can deliver gas directly to the ultra- several valves to control the flow and direction of the gas and high vacuum chamber and enter the ultra-high vacuum cham- a Nupure 1000XL Gas Purifier cleans the gas. ber from the side port. The gas pressure on both the left and Before assembly, the parts in the system were cleaned with right gas lines is monitored with Pfeiffer PKR261 full gauge an ultrasonic cleaner, Acetone, isopropanol, and distilled wa-

3 ter, and the viewports windows were rinsed with methanol or beam viewport is coated with non-reflective coating for the isopropanol along with tissues to clean lenses. The chamber is 532 and 1064nm laser line wavelengths. then baked at 120 C to absorb water and other residual . This procedure ensures that the parts are clean and that no contaminants are present, which might have occurred during manufacturing, transportation, or assembly of the system.

B. TOF Beamline and lasers

An overview of the TOF beamline is shown in figure 3. The complete TOF beamline consists of joined four-way CF crosses or tees. The laser target cells comprised of two 6- way cube cells described later in more detail, that is connected through a gate valve to the main pump chamber. Going from the laser target cell to the left, first, are the two collimator ports that are then joined with cross hosting the magnetic coil assembly to measure the sign and shape of the laser-induced pulse traveling along the TOF line. The next port is reserved for ∆E detector to particle identification. Am-241 calibration source can be placed in front of that port.

FIG. 4. catalyst holder with z stage manipulator to position the cat- alytic converter to the correct height in reference to the laser pulse.

In figure 4 we can see the z stage motion manipulator that holds the catalyst, the catalyst source can be positioned to the correct height in the chamber by a Z-stage manipulator. Cleaned Hydrogen gas H2,D2 gas enters a heated feeding line leading to the catalyst holder. The gas, catalyst holder and gas feeding line are shown in figure 5. The gas flows through the catalyst and excites Hy- FIG. 3. Side view of Time-Of-Flight beamline with Laser target drogen to Hydrogen Rydberg Matter. In figure 5b we can see cells, collimators, coil detector and PIPS detector. the laser spot interaction taken from a viewport at the backside of the Rydberg Matter Instrument. At the end of the TOF beamline, a passivated implanted planar silicon InterTech (PIPS) detector is mounted to mea- sure the final energy of the collimated beam pulse. The time of flight signal is measured by the Agilent DSO9000 4GHz 20G samples oscilloscope placed above the TOF beamline. A HpGe detector can be placed above the laser target cells for x-ray laser-induced characterization measurements. Dur- ing experiments, the purified Hydrogen, Deuterium gas can be delivered by a needle valve to the system through either of the 6-way cube cells. Gate valves are introduced on both sides of the laser target cells to prevent contamination while breaking the vacuum to change different detector setups. The main TOF chamber Is comprised of two six-way cubes FIG. 5. Catalyst sample holder and Ta foil laser target and imaged laser spot during measurement. with CF35 flanges and is situated between two Huntington gate valves to be able to close the chamber during mainte- nance and instrumental change. In figure 3 the two 6-way The laser used is a NANO L Nd: YAG laser with pulse cube cells are seen. Attached to first cube is a gas feeding to energy < 200mJ at 355nm/532 nm/1064nm and pulse length the catalyst holder, a movable focusing lens stage, target cam- four ns. The laser can be remotely operated, and the laser era, laser trigger diode and laser beam viewport. The laser beam can be moved and focused through a lens by an XYZ

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stage. The laser beam waist is < 20 µm as calculated for a Gaussian beam. The laser beam can op- erate normal or in Q switch mode pending on excitation ap- plications. A laser pulse from the YAG laser enters the TOF beamline at a 90 deg angle relative to the TOF beamline. Before enter- ing the TOF chamber, a moveable focus lens stage can adjust the position of the laser spot on the target either manually or with a Labview program. The starting pulse of the TOF signal is given by a laser diode directed into the chamber. At the op- posite side of the laser view viewport a Thorlabs DCC1645C CMOS Camera is pointing towards the laser spot, the CMOS FIG. 7. PMT with scintillator attached to the surface of the PMT. Same detector design as Prof. Leif Holmlid has observed Muons laser camera is placed for imaging the location and nature of 15 the created by the 5ns focused laser spot. from ultra-dense Hydrogen .

maximum operating voltage of 2000V. The PMT is outfitted with photomultiplier voltage divider 638D configuration N2, for photon counting and high energy physics with a base de- signed for high energy particle physics30. The nonlinear resis- tor configuration provides high amplification for high energy particles and can cope with short bursts of pulses with variable magnitude. A schematics of the detector setup is seen in figure 7b, an aluminum foil is placed in front of the PMT and operates pos- sibly as a scintillator for radiation. The PMT is connected to FIG. 6. PIPS detector at the end of the TOF beamline and PIPS an Ortec V120 Preamplifier, Ortec amplifier, and the signal is window detector for ∆E measurements. converted in an Ortec Easy MCA 2k before Maestro radiation software analyses the data. The whole setup can be transport For particle identification is a ∆E instrument inserted into around and can be battery operated. A Ortec HpGe double the beamline shown in figure 6. The ∆E instrument consists crystal radiation detector is used for high resolution X-ray and of one Canberra FD 50-14-300 RM +110V Window PIPS gamma ray studies. The signal is amplified by an Ortec 455 and one Intertechnique IPC450-100-19EM +35V PIPS detec- and processed by another Ortec Easy MCA 2k instrument. tor. Each particle in the beamline can be timed for veloc- ity and foils with different thickness can be inserted between the PIPS detector to measure dissipation of energy and calcu- late particle mass. The PIPS detectors connect to CR-Z-110 preamplifiers and to CR-S2 Shaping amplifiers before Oscil- loscope/MCA.

C. Radiation detection instruments

As mentioned before several different types of radiation has been detected from UDH with interpretation as muons, Pi- Mesons, and K-mesons16,18,23–25. Neutron emission from nu- FIG. 8. HpGe X-ray detector with cooling and Peltier clear processes in ultra-dense Hydrogen and Muon catalyzed cooled cloud chamber fusion may also has have been detected26–28. There is ad- ditional surprise seen in measurements, with no laser excita- The second detector can be positioned and placed outside tions, where a strange signal of spontaneous radiation, pos- the chamber at very close distance or many meters away from sibly muons, has been observed from the UDH matter13,18,22. the chamber. The third detector is a small educational Las- To monitor this the experimental instrument are equipped with cells cloud chamber instrument placed near the instrument. five radiation detectors during experiments. The spontaneous The cloud chamber is self-contained and thermoelectrically signal detected in a photoelectron multiplier tube (PMT) en- cooled. Two detectors used around the Hydrogen Rydberg cased in a light thight stainless steel enclosure as shown in Matter Instrument for Neutron radiation detection was a large figure 7a. The front flange of the stainless-steel SS enclosure Symetrica neutron detector and a small Kromek TN15 neutron is a 5 mm aluminum flange but can be changed to SS. detector. The PMT is a type 9266B from ET Enterprises29 with spec- The Large Symetrica neutron detector uses a wavelength- tra range between 290-630 nm and a rise time of 4 ns, with a shifting plastic paddle that is coated with a mixture of

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Lithium-6 and ZnS(Ag). The Symetrica detector size cur- a Saes Getter NEXTorr D 100-5 ion pump. The conductivity rently available has a detection area of 0.3 m wide by 1.0m instrument can reach 10E-9 mBar, and Hydrogen can enter the long, a thickness of 20 mm, and is encased in a polyethylene cell from both the backside of the turbopump and through the moderator. On the front side of the paddle the polyethylene is CF35 flange on the side. 50 mm thick and on the back side it is 50 mm thick. The top flange of the conductivity cell has a CF35 view- The paddle is viewed at one end by a 51 mm diameter pho- port for surface inspection and thermal imaging during ex- tomultiplier tube. The 6Li plus ZnS(Ag) coating serves as periments. The foil is placed on a Macor ceramic sample neutron absorber and phosphor. Thermal neutrons interact via holder to isolate the sample and measurement setup electri- the Lithium-6 (n, α) cally from the sample stage. Gold electrical contacts are con- 3 H reaction, and the resultant charged particles produce nected through the Macor sample holder. The substrate is light in the zinc sulfide. This light stimulates mission in the placed on the sample holder, where the four probes are con- wavelength shifting plastic paddle that then conducts the light nected to the electrical contacts on the sample. Electrical to the photonmultiplier tube. probes for the four-point measurement are screwed down onto The electronics and pulse shape analysis for the detector are metallic contact pads on the sample. Below the foil is a 30- delivered by Symetrica and produces a 2,3 V, 200 us TTL pos- watt foil heater which can heat the surface foil to 200 deg C. itive pulse when a neutron event is positive, and the signal is The surface probes are connected to a Keithley 199 system logged with National Instruments cDAQ 9174 and a NI 9102 DMM/scanner. counter module with a Labview software. The Kromek TN15 is a high sensitivity thermal neutron de- tector and utilizes a state-of-the-art Silicon photonmultiplier (SiPM), the detector runs on MultiSpect Analysis software. III. RESULTS

A. Time Of Flight D. Conductivity cell In figure 10a-f we can see diffraction spots when the laser The conduction chamber in figure 9 is evacuated by a turbo- interacts with Rydberg Matter close to the foil. molecular pump backed by a dry rotary valve pump. The ver- satile Rydberg Matter Instrument is constructed to be versatile in aspects of gas preparation, vacuum system, TOF beamline, and conductivity cell. Attached to another port, the experimental instrument is a four-probe conductivity cell shown in figure 9. Four-point probe methods are widely used measurement techniques that allow determining the electrical resistance of a sample during gas experiments31. One can utilize a method for probing in- teraction effects in Rydberg atoms and spontaneously created ions or electrons.

FIG. 10. The laser spot is moved from under the tip of the catalyst towards a Ta foil on the left. Diffraction spots are visible before it touches the surface. Fast TOF 0.5c-0.8c particles are only observed when the laser is hitting the surface directly, as in the last picture

In figure 10a we can see the laser spot interacts with Hy- drogen Rydberg Matter under the tip of the catalyst. The laser FIG. 9. Side and top view of conductivity cell connected to the Hy- spot in moved closer to the Ta surface in 10b and we can see a drogen Rydberg Matter Instrument. increase in intensity as well as the beginning of a wavefront in the lower right corner. Fast TOF 0.3c-0.9c particles are only Rydberg atoms and Rydberg matter are very sensitive to observed when the laser spot is hitting right above the metallic their environment, especially to electric fields, the purpose surface as in figure 10f. of the four-point probe chamber is to measure the resistivity In the TOF chamber coulomb repulsions make the ions of any material or foil in contact with Rydberg matter. The move apart. This process is also called Coulomb explosion conductivity cell is attached to a separate Agilent TwisTorr (CE) process. The kinetic energy release (KER) given to the 84FS turbopump with a roughing pump on the backside and fragment is equal to the Coulomb energy

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e2 W = (1) 4πε0d

Here e is the elementary charge and ε0 = 4π· 10E− 7H/m is the vacuum permittivity. The TOF for the particle released by such Coulomb explosions is calculated with d=2,9n2a0, where a0 is the Bohr radius. Both the classical and QM calculations for RM give a simple relation between the excitation level of RM and the bond distances between the core ions in the RM. The factor 2.9 is found from the classical calculations of the minimum energy states of RM. The TOF FIG. 12. TOF measurement on relativistic particles, showing laser of the fragments is then t = s/(v0 + v), where s is the effective pulse top running at 80 mJ and received charged particles at the PIPS flight path length to the detector and v0 is defined by v0 = (2 detector. The TOF detector is at the end of 1,1 m long tube. Delta W/m)1/2, v is the thermal initial velocity component in the time between laser diode and ion detector is 10 ns. same direction as v0. With a fresh emitter in the chamber and no gas we have zero signal on our PIPS or faraday detector at the end of the is 80 mJ, and TOF measurements were performed on an Agi- beamline. After flowing gas into the chamber at 10E-5mbar lent 8000 4Ghz four-channel oscilloscope using 2 m BNC RG for 3 hours, TOF peaks starts to appear. The TOF peaks will cables on all channels. slowly disappear over time and we have to flow protium into the chamber again. The laser pulse and TOF is shown in figure 12, in this case the TOF detector has an angle of 90 deg vs B. Radiation incoming laser beam. In figure 11 we can see the results of early laser interaction A with no laser excitations a spontaneous radiation signal with Hydrogen Rydberg Matter and ion velocities. has been detected from UDH by the research group at Gothen- burg University. The strange signal of spontaneous radiation has been detected in PMTs enclosed in a light tight enclosure with plastic and metal foil scintillators in front of the PMT, this has been characterized as being possibly Muons, emitted from the UDH matter13,18,22. Figure 13 shows the radiation detected by the PMT with aluminium scintillator.

FIG. 11. TOF measurement showing laser pulse top running at 80 mJ and received ions bottom at the TOF detector. The TOF detector is at the end of 1 m long tube. Delta time between laser diode and ion detector is 21 us. The kinetic energy of the ions is 11,8 eV.

The laser energy was kept at 80 mJ during experiments and was measured by a calibrated Coherent Molectron PowerMax FIG. 13. Signal from two different PMT detectors with aluminum 500 laser power meter. Oscilloscope used to measure TOF scintillators. Spectrum 1 is background radiation in PMT1 and spec- between the laser diode, and the ion detector was a 100MHz trum 4 is PMT1 showing elevated radiation after Hydrogen Rydberg Hantek DSO5102, 2 channel oscilloscope connected with 2 Matter production and chambers has been activated. Spectrum 2 is m 50-ohm cables both laser diode and an ion detector. The background radiation in PMT2 from cosmic Muons and spectrum 3 TOF measured is 21 us moving at a velocity of 0.023 % of c, is PMT2 showing elevated radiation after Hydrogen Rydberg Matter giving kinetic energy of the ions of 11,8 eV. production and chambers has been activated In figure 12, we can see the results of laser interaction with Hydrogen Rydberg Matter and ion velocities after the instru- Similar spontaneous radiation has been detected from UDH ment has been operating for two weeks. in Iceland and Norway as shown in figure 14. The radiation is A high-speed relativistic TOF signal is detected after the picked up by the PMT enclosed in stainless steel and the PMT Hydrogen Rydberg Matter Instrument has been operating in has a scintillator made from aluminum foil. more than two weeks, a signal moving at 36.69 % of c, Seen in figure 14 is HpGe x-ray detector calibration. Cal- which is abnormal fast even for small scale electron accelera- ibration of the detector was preformed in-house using Co-60 tors. The energy in the laser to produce the relativistic signal and Na-22 sources.

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source was placed at the bottom of a 3 m long tube surrounded by thick concrete so as not to disturb the gamma ray flux from the gamma source. For the Kromek TN15 neutron detector the software K- Spect was used and counts per second was calculated after 200 s periods. For the Symetrica a Labview software was written for the Ni 9402 module for a cDAQ data acquisition unit. The net counts per second is plotted vs polyethylene thick- ness surrounding the detectors.

FIG. 14. In spectrum 3 and 4 one can see HpGe X-ray detector cali- bration with Na22 and Co60 sources. In spectrum 2 a normal back- ground spectrum is shown and in spectrum 3 one can see spectrum with a aluminium foil between the HpGe detector and instrument outside a 20 um mylar window flange

FIG. 16. Symetrica Neutron Detector calibration with different polyethylene thickness as moderator vs cps, graph 1 AmBe neutron source with 40 mm lead shielding, graph 2 AmBe neutron source with 20 mm lead shielding,graph 3 AmBe neutron source with no shielding

Some neutron detectors may be sensitive for 59,54 keV ra- diation from Am241 and seen in figure 17 we introduce a Am241 source and can check the sensitivity of the large Sy- metrica neutron detector from 59,54 keV.

FIG. 15. Cloud chamber pictures taken only in earth’s magnetic field. figures 15a-d shows strange bending particle tracks only when the cloud chamber is close to active Hydrogen Rydberg Matter Instru- ment.

The neutron source used for calibration was AmBe with a halflife of 432,2 years with an average neutron energy of 4,2 MeV. The source had an activity of 35143 MBq at the calibration time and the original activity was 37000 MBq. To check for gamma ray sensitivity, a Cesium-137 with a source strength of 370kBq with an average of gamma energy of 662 keV and Americium 241 with an average of gamma energy of 59,54 KeV was used. The Americium-241 source strength was 111 GBq. FIG. 17. Symetrica Neutron Detector calibration with Am241 and The neutron calibration were performed at IFE neutron fa- Ce137 sources with different polyethylene moderator thickness in cility located at Kjeller, Norway. There were some limitations cm, counts pr sec vs cm moderator thickness, graph 1 with the detec- for this test and results may change with different conditions. tor 1 m away from Am241, graph 2 with the detector 2 m away from Am241, graph 3 with the detector 1 and 2 m away from Ce137. Only one test location for both Americium-241 and AmBe neutron source. Only one geometry for the walls surrounding both sources, the effect of reflections is not known. Gamma As we can see in graph 1 in figure 17 the Symetrica neutron insensitivity measurements were preformed and the detector detector is sensitive to 59,54 keV radiation and has a optimum sensitivity to gamma rays was tested with both Americium- polyethylene thickness of 5 cm when the detector is placed 2 241 and Cesium-137. For indoor measurements, the neutron m away from radiation source.

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In figure 18 we can also see a increase in radiation detection 200 eV are typical for laser fluences not too far above the ab- on the SiPM Kromek Neutron detector when using a Am241 . lation threshold. Neutrals are more difficult to measure, and results in the literature vary between thermal energies of In atoms ablated at extremely low laser energy32, around 1 eV for Te ablated from ZnTe33 and 80 eV for Al ablation at a laser energy above ablation threshold34. Electron acceleration by relativistic surface plasmons have been shown to produce particles exceeding 10 MeV by using a 25 fs laser pulse with 35 a peak power of 100 TW and a wavelength λ 0.8µm but cannot explain the MeV particles being produced in the current instrument. Ion acceleration caused by electrons are not possible since they are confined by Debye effects. After operating the Hydrogen Rydberg Matter Instrument

for more than two weeks we can consistently produce rela- FIG. 18. Kromek TN15 SiPM Neutron Detector calibration with Am241, Ce137 and AmBe sources with different polyethylene mod- tivistic charged particles above 0.3 % of c. The velocity of the erator thickness in cm, counts pr sec vs cm moderator thickness, charged particles do change from day to day and can reach graph 1 with the detector 1 m and 2m away from Ce-137, graph 2 above 0.9 % of c. with the detector 1 m away from Am241, graph 3 with the detector 2 The PMT detector with aluminum foil scintillator encased m away from Am241, graph 4 AmBe source at 1 m. in stainless steel do see elevated radiation after both Hydrogen and Deuterium gas is converted to Rydberg Matter. The radi- Both neutron detectors are placed 1 m away from the Hy- ation is not yet confirmed as Muons but are travelling through drogen Rydberg Matter Instruments during experiments and 10 mm stainless steel and 4 m of air before entering the PMT was logged continuously for several days before experiments and scintillating in Aluminium foil. The origin of the radiation started to get good background data. is directional and do come from the same region as the Hydro- gen Rydberg Matter Instrument. The strength and spectrum alters by adding different thickness of aluminium foil at the surface of the PMT and varies greatly with distance to the Hy- drogen Rydberg Matter Instrument. The radiation detected in the PMT also alters with operating parameters such as temper- ature, metallic surfaces, laser frequency, laser intensity, age of catalysts and base pressure in the Hydrogen Rydberg Matter Instrument. The radiation detected needs to undergo further analysis to be fully understood. Test results indicate that the Symetrica neutron detector are sensitive to 59,54 keV gamma from Am 241. The detector are not sensitive to 612 keV from Cesium137. Figure 18 shows increased and fluctuating detection in radiation in the Symet- rica neutron detector when laser interacts with Rydberg mat- FIG. 19. Radiation detection using Symetrica neutron detector dur- ter inside the instrument indicating that radiation in the lower ing laser interaction with Rydberg Matter. keV region is being emitted from the Hydrogen Rydberg Mat- ter Instrument. The neutron signal needs further analysis for In figure 19 one can see data from large Symetrica neu- exact determination of radiation energy. tron detector during laser interaction with Hydrogen Rydberg As seen in figure 14 and figure 18 we detect an increase in Matter, we can se a large increase in radiation detected by the radiation in the low keV region with HpGe detector and neu- neutron detector. tron detector during laser interaction with Hydrogen Rydberg Matter. The origin of the radiation and if the detectors regis- ter the same radiation needs further analysis. The reason the IV. DISCUSSION radiation signal in figure 18 fluctuates during laser interaction is not yet understood. The intensity of the radiation and the In summary, we have constructed a versatile Hydrogen Ry- energy varies with laser spot position and alters when plac- dberg Matter Instrument with TOF spectrometer that allows ing metals such as copper, aluminium and lead between the us to measure the energy distribution of laser ablated ions. Hydrogen Rydberg Matter Instrument and the detector. We show that the ion source and excitation of Hydrogen to The research group has stated that a new form of Hydrogen, Hydrogen Rydberg Matter is an efficient source of Rydberg ultra-dense Hydrogen with a bound distance of 0,56 pm is the Matter and the TOF system is applicable for the detection of reason one can achieve MeV particles in this instrument. Sev- ions. eral iterations of this instrument were designed and built be- Concerning the ion energies, our results are in line with the fore it worked. Some of the results published by the research literature, where all studies agree that energies of tens up to group at Gothenburg University and Prof. Leif Holmlid was

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replicated and verified. We hope the system and technology Spectrometry, vol. 282, no. 1-2, pp. 70–76, apr 2009. [Online]. Available: will have use in further research on Hydrogen Rydberg Matter http://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S1387380609000724 13 and contribute to more replications of the results published by P. U. Andersson and L. Holmlid, “Cluster ions D N + ejected from dense and ultra-dense deuterium by Coulomb explosions: Fragment rotation and the research group at Gothenburg University. D + backscattering from ultra-dense clusters in the surface phase,” Interna- tional Journal of Mass Spectrometry, vol. 310, pp. 32–43, 2012. 14 F. Olofson and L. Holmlid, “Detection of MeV particles from ultra-dense protium p(1): Laser-initiated self-compression from p(1),” ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section B: Beam Interactions with Materials and Atoms, vol. 278, pp. 34–41, The Norwegian Research Council supported this work may 2012. 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