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Physics of Zero Point Field and its Application ISBN 978-1622572786
Editor: Takaaki Musha, PhD © 2008 Nova Science Publishers, Inc.

Chapter 7

FUTURE PROSPECTS OF ADVANCED ZPF

TECHNOLOGIES

Thomas F. Valone*
Integrity Research Institute, Beltsville MD, USA

Abstract
As any new, disruptive technology is introduced into society, the scramble to
adapt can be significant. Just ask any venture capitalist. However, when ZPE
products start to emerge in handheld and computer backup-battery replacements,
the change may not be noticed for a while. This often is a technique, called
“stealth marketing” to delay the competition from starting to catch on to the new
trend. As groups like the World Future Society (www.wfs.org), Kurzweil
(www.kurzweilai.net), and Arlington Institute (www.arlingtoninstitute.org)
predict, the future will offer much more technology that interfaces with the body
and brain. What better way to spur the development of electronic technology than
to have self-powered devices? We already have it in the form of solar-powered
calculators, wristwatches that don’t need battery changes, and the BetaBatt
Company which is developing a 25-year tritium battery, are several examples.
The megatrend has begun. More and more products with ZPF integrated products
will come with “energy for a lifetime.”

1 INTRODUCTION

The integration of ZPF-powered products into society will kick it up another

notch and be even more sudden, disruptive, and discontinuous. It has to be. When
your neighbors catch wind of bigger and larger scale consumer items that have a

*
iri@starpower.net , www.integrity-research.org
2 Thomas Valone

mysterious power cell that needs no fuel, stock prices for those companies will
soar as they rush to be the first to invest. Oil and gas companies will scramble to
debunk and discredit the inventions as the boardrooms try to diversify their
holdings. A “one-time investment” in any and every product that does not need to
be plugged in or filled up means the consumer will want to buy and hold onto that
one item in preference to any other like it. Third world countries can be
transformed into useful contributors to society with a single investment in or
donation toward their own ZPF power cell for the community or household.

2 FUTURE ZPE DEVELOPMENTS WILL CREATE FREEDOM

As small devices are introduced to the market, which is the most likely
niche to fill, such as solar-powered calculators, consumers will notice that a one-
time investment creates a longer lasting, more stable, higher standard of living.
Have you every noticed how quickly our Western standard of living disappears as
soon as an inconvenient weather disaster hits? Let a power line go down and
millions can be forced back into primitive cave living with fire and flashlights in
an instant. Our present modernization is quite unreliable, being dependent on a
long umbilical cord of a centralized power grid. Of course, the new ZPF future
will come at a price. However, as solid-state integration of nanotechnology
becomes more and more inexpensive, we will find a decline in energy-demanding
costs. It is worth noting that in many new cars, a tiny chip now contains a
nanotech swinging weight to detect collisions. These are accelerometers
(acceleration sensors) that are very reliable
In Figure 1, we see a
model of a kilowatt sample
generator that is proposed to
extract ZPE for electricity supply.
Having units like these for the
home, car, and office will make
everyone’s lifestyle entirely
different than today. It is a
guaranteed upgrade in the
standard of living for any third
world country and a great
standard of freedom for explorers,
astronauts and military personnel.
Figure 1. Example of a proposed stand-alone
kilowatt ZPF generator (Excalibur Technology) Dr. Richard Obousy, a ZPE
investigator, has stated,

“From the papers studied the author has grown increasingly convinced as to the
relevance of the ZPE in modern physics. The subject is presently being tackled
with appreciable enthusiasm and it appears that there is little disagreement that the
 Future Prospects of Advanced ZPF Technologies 3

vacuum could ultimately be harnessed as an energy source. Indeed, the ability of

science to provide ever more complex and subtle methods of harnessing unseen
energies has a formidable reputation. Who would have ever predicted atomic
energy a century ago?”

We may therefore wonder about society’s issues that are preventing ZPE
acceptance and development.

3 PERSPECTIVE ON A ZPE SOCIETY

An investor and entrepreneur sent an email to me recently about his

progress with an invention that is exhibiting the characteristics we associate with
those that tap the ZPF. His comments are valuable to gain a perspective on the
state of society after his product reaches the market:
Posit if you will, a device that does the following: generates 100 kW,
enough to power a car or two houses, the size of 2 cubic feet; scalable to
Megawatts in the size of a garage; miniature versions to self-power tools,
appliances, virtually anything. It can replace car, truck, locomotive and ship
engines.
It generates this energy without consuming anything because it is a zero
point energy transducer, so the costs for the electricity or motive force produced
are those of maintenance; we guess about 0.1 cent per kWh, or less, a factor of 30
to 70 times cheaper than current fossil / atomic generation.
No noxious products are produced either. This means that desalinization
plants would be practical. There would be instant energy production available for
third world countries to use in their development. Like cell phones, no copper
infrastructure would be needed as all generation is done locally. These devices
will not be expensive either. In developed countries, each home and business
could have one of our generators and obsolete the centralized model of power
distribution.
Sounds good so far? Of course we can see the obvious crash and burn of
the existing energy and power distribution companies, the shift in power away
from oil producing countries and huge layoffs of personnel in these dying
industries, but what of the longer term consequences?
The response from the Arlington Institute (Dr. John Peterson, President)
was also informative and encouraging, giving the impression that many people are
poised and ready, including the military, for the next energy breakthrough:

“Very nice to hear from you, … I appreciate all of this. I'm quite interested in
what you are talking about, both in terms of the underlying technology and in the
potential implications of it. To that end, I've set up a venture fund with a couple of
sophisticated partners to fund breakthrough technologies that could ‘change the
world’. We are standing that up right now and would be most interested in
hearing in more detail about what you've got going. Part of the services that The
4 Thomas Valone

Arlington Institute would provide for the fund would be studying the potential
impact and implications of a target investment opportunity, so there is certainly a
vehicle in place to do some of the thinking that you are interested in. Furthermore,
we are soon to start a study for the Department of Defense to build a strategy for
the US to accelerate our extrication from a dependence on oil and gas and move
to the next major energy source. In that project we will be surveying all of the
existing alternative energy source (both conventional and unconventional) that we
can find -- so we will have a pretty good sense of what the potential energy
landscape looks like. So I'd like to hear more.”

3.1 Importance of a ZPE Breakthrough

It is unduly apparent that research into this ubiquitous energy is overdue.

The question has been asked, “Can new technology reduce our need for oil from
the Middle East?” More and more sectors of our society are demanding
breakthroughs in energy generation, because of the rapid depletion of oil reserves
and the environmental impact from the combustion of fossil fuels. “In 1956, the
geologist M. King Hubbert predicted that U.S. oil production would peak in the
early 1970s. Almost everyone, inside and outside the oil industry, rejected
Hubbert’s analysis. The controversy raged until 1970, when the U.S. production
of crude oil started to fall. Hubbert was right. Around 1995, several analysts
began applying Hubbert’s method to world oil production, and most of them
estimate that the peak year for world oil will be between 2004 and 2008. These
analyses were reported in some of the most widely circulated sources: Nature,
Science and Scientific American. None of our political leaders seem to be paying
attention. If the predictions are correct, there will be enormous effects on the
world economy.”[1] The Deffeyes book shows the Hubbert method predicting
world peak oil production and decline.
It is now widely accepted, especially in Europe where I participated in the
World Renewable Energy Policy and Strategy Forum, Solar Energy Expo 2002
and the Innovative Energy Technology Conference, (all in Berlin, Germany), that
the world oil production peak will probably only stretch to 2020, and that global
warming is now occurring faster than expected. Furthermore, it will take decades
to reverse the damage already set in motion, without even considering the future
impact of “thermal forcing” which the future greenhouse gases will cause from
generators and automobiles already irreversibly set in motion. The Kyoto Protocol,
with its 7% decrease to 1990 levels of emissions, is a small step in the right
direction but it does not address the magnitude of the problem, nor attempt to
reverse it. “Stabilizing atmospheric CO2 concentrations at safe levels will require
a 60 to 80 per cent cut in carbon emissions from current levels, according to the
best estimates of scientists.”[2] Therefore, renewable energy sources like solar
and wind power have seen a dramatic increase in sales every single year for the
past ten years as more and more people see the future shock looming on the
 Future Prospects of Advanced ZPF Technologies 5

horizon. Solar photovoltaic panels, however, still have to reach the wholesale
level in their cost of electricity that wind turbines have already achieved.
Another emerging problem that seems to have been unanticipated by the
environmental groups is that too much proliferation of one type of machinery,
such as windmills, is objectionable as well. Recently, the Alliance to Protect
Nantucket Sound filed suit against the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to stop
construction of a 197-foot tower being built to collect wind data for the
development of a wind farm five miles off the coast of Massachusetts. Apparently,
the wealthy residents are concerned that the view of Nantucket Sound will be
spoiled by the large machines in the bay. Therefore, it is likely that only a
compact, distributed, free energy generator will be widely acceptable to the public
in the future. Considering payback-on-investment, if it possessed a twenty-five
year lifespan or more, while requiring minimum maintenance, then it will
probably please most of the people, most of the time. The development of a ZPF
generator theoretically would actually satisfy these criteria.

3.2 Compartmentalized and Classified Programs

Dr. Steven Greer of the Disclosure Project has stated,

“Classified above top-secret projects possess fully operational anti-gravity

propulsion devices and new energy generation systems, that, if declassified and
put to peaceful uses, would empower a new human civilization without want,
poverty or environmental damage.”[3]

However, the declassification of black project, compartmentalized exotic

energy technologies is not readily forthcoming. Moreover, it is not even
acknowledged. (The first step toward declassification of a technology is knowing
exactly what to ask for and knowing that it exists in the black world.) With
unacknowledged energy technology, civilian physics research is being forced to
re-invent fueless energy sources slowly and painfully, such as zero-point energy
extraction. Bennett Hart, Deputy Director of the National Reconnaissance
Organization (which is bigger than the CIA) explained to me that many of the
exotic devices with high classification levels often move up in secrecy levels until
they are “out of sight.” He went on to say, “It is easier for us to pay a private
contractor to re-invent something so it will come out at a lower classification level,
than to try to declassify it.” At the International Space Development 2005
conference in DC, he said to me that he would attempt to investigate the existence
of inertia-free shielding (after I explained to him what it was and how useful it is)
and do what he could on its declassification. Then, I pulled out my two-volume
Electrogravitics Systems books to show him the 1988 Norton AFB hovercraft
which has 1950’s rivets and hovers above the ground.[4] Even though it simply
uses pulsed “electrokinetics” to produce impulse force (the subject of the second
volume), it still has not been declassified. I said, since he indicated in his talk that
6 Thomas Valone

he needs more lifting capability and faster launch schedules, he needs improved
propulsion technology as much as the space program needs it. Several people had
come to our Institute’s exhibit booth expressing the need for new breakthrough
propulsion technology as well. Inertial shielding is explained in the next section
of this chapter.
To emphasize the stranglehold that classified black projects have on all
advanced energy and propulsion in the United States, it is worth mentioning the
famous quote from the late Ben Rich, a former head of Lockheed’s advanced
development division, with above top secret clearance: “We have the ability to
take ET home” (where “ET” signifies an “extraterrestrial”), which implies that
advanced propulsion of spacecraft is already in the US hands but only held in
classified black projects. (This has also been confirmed in my conversations with
at least one former black project employee from Area 51-S4 who personally
referred to “interdimensional craft” and “deep space platforms” currently in use
with back-engineered craft). Ben also advocated a “Sundown Rule” which would
have instituted a new classification regime where all classified documents expire
after a set time period.[5]

4 FUTURE APPLICATIONS OF ZPF TECHNOLOGY

4.1 Propulsion and Space Travel

Figure 2. Presentation slide explaining basics of ZPF inertia-shielded space flight

 Future Prospects of Advanced ZPF Technologies 7

Regarding the existing conundrum of civilian interplanetary travel, with

our present lack of appropriate declassified propulsion technology and cosmic ray
bombardment protection, Arthur C. Clarke has predicted that in 3001 the
“inertialess drive” will most likely be put to use like a controllable gravity field,
thanks to the landmark paper by Haisch et al. This will have to be a requirement
of interplanetary travel in the near future. As the reader may know from studying
the discovery of Haisch, Rueda and Puthoff on inertia, there is an electromagnetic
formula awaiting discovery that will interrupt the natural interaction of a body
with the surrounding electromagnetic ZPF sea, in the shorter wavelength (high
frequency) region for this to operate.[6] Safe space travel does not seem so remote
anymore.
In Figure 2, we see the basic concept of inertia caused by the interaction
with the ZPF from the Haisch paper, with the interpretation that such an
interaction with the zero-point Lorentz field calls for a shield design. Such a
proposed shield design, confirmed by the author with conversations with at least
one retired black project engineer, might consist of 20% iridium interspersed
monatomically with aluminum for example. This has to be a universal
requirement for space travel since, according to the well-known Newton’s Second
Law F=ma, m is equal to inertial mass and NOT gravitational mass. (The two
have only been hypothesized to be the same by the so-called “equivalence
principle” but physicists know they are quite different.)

Figure 3. Eye witness photo in a presentation slide of a black project aircraft

making a right angle turn at night that is impossible without inertial shielding
8 Thomas Valone

Once it is understood that certain shielding material around the entire

aircraft, spacecraft or even automobile can drastically reduce the inertial mass m
in the equation F=ma, it is a simple realization that the acceleration a will
drastically increase since they are inversely proportional, given a fixed amount of
force F. It is then clear that the force or propulsion requirements can also be
substantially reduced to achieve a desired acceleration because the usual inertial
mass resistance to change of direction and speed will be reduced substantially as
it approaches zero, depending perhaps on the successful amount homogeneous
dispersion of the iridium in an aluminum sheet. This realization allows us to
project a few decades into the future when such technology will be implemented
in land, sea, air and space vehicles to improve travel and offer the possibility of
superluminal flight since inertial mass is also the ingredient of Einstein’s special
relativity. It is predicted that the otherwise weak force production of
electrogravitics and electrokinetics will be the primary propulsion system of the
future, once ZPF inertia shielding is implemented. As noted above, this author has
written two volumes on the subject (ref. 4) explaining the history and physics of
the electrogravitics propulsion principle.
Another confirmation of the relation of the ZPF to propulsion is a recent
discovery by Professor Feigel.[7] As explained in Figure 4, for a dielectric
medium, Feigel discovered a Lorentz force application that requires the ZPF for
energy conservation.

Figure 4. Presentation slide explaining a ZPF discovery producing motion

 Future Prospects of Advanced ZPF Technologies 9

Specifically, examining the Feigel discovery, we see that on a microscopic scale,

the ZPF can be used to produce unidirectional motion, with the application of
static electric and magnetic fields.
Perhaps the most robust application of the ZPF is the hydrodynamic
approach pioneered by Professor David Froning (University of Adelaide) and
physicist Roach to engineer superluminal spaceflight by reducing viscous drag.[8]
In Figure 5 we see his mathematically simulated comparison between the
compression of sound waves and the compression expected of light waves, due to
analogous medium resistance.

Figure 5. Presentation slide comparing the compression of sound and light waves

In Figure 5, the aerodynamic viscous drag resistance to increased speed is

compared to the electromagnetic zero-point vacuum resistance to increased speed,
which is perceived as inertia. Drawing upon the separate works by Puthoff and
Haisch,[9] this approach takes their ZPE-related gravity and inertia theory to the
engineering level of experimental simulation. In Figure 5, the analogy is drawn
between the well-known equation for the speed of light c = ( μoεo )-½ and the
aerodynamic gas equation for the speed of sound c = (gRγT)-½ with compressible
fluid graphics for each. The aerodynamic resistance of viscous drag exerted on the
substructure of a vehicle is compared to the Lorentz force exerted on the
substructure of the vehicle by the ZPF, which is also proposed to be a Casimir-
10 Thomas Valone

like force exerted on the exterior by unbalanced ZPE radiation pressures. The
conclusion drawn from this first-order analysis is that μo and εo can be perturbed
by propagation speed and possibly vehicle inertia, accompanied by a distortion of
the quantum vacuum. Froning compares the inertia of the two relative media as
the speed of the vehicle increases toward the light and sound speed limits in
Figure 6. It is interesting to note that the two equations take the same form as we
compare the Prandtl Glauert equation with the special relativistic equation.
A fundamental part of the Fronig and Roach approach to the fluid dynamic
simulation of superluminal speeds is the proposal that μo and εo can be reduced
significantly by nonabelian electromagnetic fields of SU(2) symmetry. It is
proposed that EM fields of nonabelian form have the same symmetry that
underlies gravity and inertia. Their approach is particularly to use alternating
current toroids with resonant frequencies. That nonabelian gauge symmetry offers
a higher order of symmetry has been seen elsewhere in the literature. Zee, for
example, notes that the square of the vector potential A2 would normally be equal
to zero in the abelian gauge, which all standard (“trivial”) electromagnetic theory
texts use. Instead, he notes that a field strength such as F = dA + A2 can be
formulated easily in the nonabelian gauge and shown to be nonzero and gauge
covariant (though not invariant). Furthermore, the nonabelian analog of the
Maxwell Langrangian, called the Yang-Mills Langrangian, includes cubic and
quartic terms that describe self-interaction of nonabelian bosons (photons), as
well as a nonabelian Berry’s phase that is intimately related to the Aharonov-
Bohm phase. (The Aharonov-Bohm phase depends exclusively on the vector
potential.) Even the strong nuclear interaction is accurately described by a
nonabelian gauge theory. “Pure Maxwell theory is free and so essentially trivial. It
contains a noninteracting photon. In contrast, pure Yang-Mills theory contains
self-interaction and is highly nontrivial…Fields listen to the Yang-Mills gauge
bosons according to the representation R that they belong to, and those that
belong to the trivial identity representation do not hear the call of the gauge
boson.[10]
According to Froning and Roach, the representation R can be changed by
surrounding a saucer-shaped spaceship with a toroidal EM field that distorts and
perturbs the vacuum sufficiently to affect its permeability and permittivity. The
vacuum field perturbations are simulated by fluid field perturbations that resulted
in the same percentage change in disturbance propagation speed within the region
of perturbation. The computational effort was simplified by solving only the Euler
equations of fluid dynamics for wave drag. The resulting μo and εo perturbation
solutions create a bulge at the fore and aft of the craft, providing an acceleration
instead of a drag!
In his discussion of the 1910 Einstein-Hopf model, Milonni describes their
derivation of a retarding force or drag on a moving dipole as a result of its
interaction with the vacuum zero-point field, which acts to decrease its kinetic
energy. Assuming v << c, the retarding force due to motion through the ZPF
thermal field is described with a fluid dynamics equation, F = – R v, where v is
 Future Prospects of Advanced ZPF Technologies 11

the velocity of the dipole and R is a formula depending upon dipole mass and ZPF
spectral energy density. Milonni also notes that due to recoil associated with
photon emission and absorption, which are both in the same direction, the ZPF
also acts to increase the kinetic energy of a dipole. Equilibrium is established
when the increase in kinetic energy due to recoil balances the decrease in kinetic
energy due to the drag.[11]

Figure 6. Aerodynamic drag versus subsonic speed and inertia versus subluminal speed

Regarding the fluid dynamic approach to the quantum vacuum, it is noted

that the Casimir force within cavities possessing a movable wall, cantilever or
membrane will behave like a compressible fluid since a restoring force is present
for any deviation from the zero-force position. It turns out that more exact
analogies to fluids are possible for the quantum vacuum. A hydrodynamic model
of a fluid with irregular fluctuations has been proposed by Bohm and Vigier for
the vacuum, which also satisfies Einstein’s desire for a causal interpretation of
quantum mechanics.[12] Their work also includes a proof that the wave function
probability density P = |ψ|2 used in quantum theory approaches the standard
formula for fluid density with random fluctuations. There is also a suggestion of
further work regarding how a fluid vortex provides a very natural model of the
non-relativistic wave equation of a particle with spin.
12 Thomas Valone

4.2 Energy Extraction from the ZPF

Dr. Stephen Schwartz conducted a “2050 Project” over a period of 25

years in the last century with about 4000 people in which they were asked a series
of questions, one of which related to the energy issues of 2050. The surprising
consensus for the majority of the 4000 interviewees, who intuitively responded
with what is loosely called “remote viewing,” indicated that some type of energy
revolution had occurred which decentralized power and that “energy is no longer
an issue.”[13] Upon meeting Dr. Schwartz and discussing the Jungian concept of
the collective unconscious, it seemed to us that his probative 2050 Project
revealed fundamental archetypes of the collective that are now beginning to
emerge, destined to affect people, places and things in an emotional way,
including the solution to our survival issue of the morbid and deadly fossil fuel
burning, affecting the entire world’s climate in rapidly destructive ways.
By 2050, I can confidently project a new world of ZPF usage in the land,
sea, air and beyond but especially at home where all of us in the first decade of
the 21st century normally
are at the mercy of
centralized power that
usually fails during a
major weather catastrophe,
compounding the sense of
loss and powerlessness. It
may take the shape of the
optically controlled
Casimir vacuum engine
designed by Dr. Fabrizio
Pinto for example, with an
array of micron-sized
Casimir cavities with
movable membranes. A
fascinating example of
utilizing mechanical
Figure 7. Pinto’s optically controlled vacuum engine forces from the Casimir
effect and a change of the
surface dielectric properties, to intimately control the abundance of virtual
particles, is an optically-controlled vacuum energy transducer developed by the
Jet Propulsion Lab scientist.[14] A moving cantilever or membrane is proposed to
cyclically change the active volume of the chamber as it generates electricity with
a thermodynamic engine cycle. The invention proposes to use the Casimir force to
power the microcantilever beam produced with standard micromachining
technology. The silicon structure may also include a microbridge or
micromembrane instead, all of which have a natural oscillation frequency on the
order of a free-carrier lifetime in the same material. The discussion will refer the
 Future Prospects of Advanced ZPF Technologies 13

(micro)cantilever design but it is understood that a microbridge or flexible

membrane could also be substituted. The invention is based on the cyclic
manipulation of the dimensions of Casimir cavity created between the cantilever
and the substrate as seen in Figure 7. The semiconducting membrane (SCM) is the
cantilever which could be on the order of 50-100 microns in size with a few
micron thickness in order to obtain a resonant frequency in the range of 10 kHz,
for example.
Two monochromatic lasers (RS) are turned on thereby increasing the
Casimir force by optically changing the dielectric properties of the cantilever.
This frequency dependence of a dielectric constant, can vary with frequency by a
few orders of magnitude inversely proportional to the frequency. The standard
analysis of cavity modes usually identifies the resonant modes of the cavity,
dependent on the boundary conditions. However, Pinto’s pro-active approach is to
excite a particular frequency mode in the cavity. In doing so, an applied
electrostatic charge (Vb) increases as the cantilever is pulled toward the adjacent
substrate (SCP) by the Casimir force. Bending the charged cantilever on a
nanoscale, the Casimir attractive force is theoretically balanced with opposing
electrostatic forces, in the same way as Forward’s “parking ramp” seen in Figure
2 of Chapter 1. As the potential difference to the cantilever assembly is applied
with reference to a conducting surface (CP2) nearby, the distance to this surface is
also kept much larger than the distance between the cantilever and the substrate
(SCP). Upon microlaser illumination, which changes the dielectric properties of
the surface and increases the Casimir force, there is also predicted an increase in
electrostatic energy due to an increase in capacitance and voltage potential.
Therefore a finite electrical current can be extracted and the circuit battery is
charged by an energy amount equal to the net work done by the Casimir force.
Pinto estimates the Casimir force field energy transfer to be approximately 100 to
1000 erg/cm2.[15] Converting this to similar units used previously, this Casimir
engine should produce in the range of 60 to 600 TeV/cm2 (teraelectron volts per
square centimeter) which is also equal to 0.01 to 0.1 mJ/cm2 for every
thermodynamic engine cycle. It can therefore be scaled up for appropriate
applications with sufficient heat dissipation techniques, thus fulfilling one
approach to solving the energy issue by 2050. More detailed information and
analysis in contained in my book, Practical Conversion of Zero-Point Energy:
Feasibility Study of the Extraction of Zero-Point Energy from the Quantum
Vacuum for the Performance of Useful Work. [16]
Another approach utilizes the vibrating cavity which has been confirmed
to emit light radiation.[17] In 1970, American physicist Gerald Moore proposed
reversing the logic of the Casimir effect. He envisaged rapidly accelerating
mirrors that would squeeze the vacuum fluctuations in the space between them so
violently that they would give up some of their energy in the form of photons.
[18] In practice it is not possible to accelerate even a small macroscopic mirror
fast enough to produce this "dynamical" Casimir effect, so last year Chris Wilson
and his team from the Chalmers University of Technology in Gothenburg,
14 Thomas Valone

Sweden, used rapidly varying electrical currents to simulate the effect of mirrors
accelerating to something like a quarter of the speed of light. The result was the
simultaneous production of pairs of photons from the vacuum, exactly as Moore
had predicted. [19]
Spatial squeezing, quantum coherence, and focusing vacuum fluctuations
are also tools to trick the ZPF vacuum into giving up energy. At the 2012 Space,
Propulsion & Energy Sciences International Forum (SPESIF), the best
presentation of a true breakthrough consisted of Dr. Garret Moddel from the
University of Colorado. Garret discussed his experimental investigation into the
zero-point energy emission from noble gases flowing through Casimir cavities,
which is a test of his patent #7,379,286, coinvented with Dr. Bernard Haisch from
Calphysics Institute. To their surprise, Helium had a more robust output of
radiation in the microwatt range than the heavier Xenon, measured with a

Figure 8. Moddel’s radiating Casimir cavity with temporarily constricted noble gases

pyrometer.
Their unusual theory of constricting a gas atom quantum mechanically and
then looking for a release of energy actually worked, showing that zero-point
energy can be utilized to produce energy! Of course the reabsorption of the lost
energy from the quantum vacuum completes the engine cycle according to the
patent disclosure, which also resembles the Josef Papp engine (patent #4,428,193)
in many ways. This discovery will be featured in the next edition of my book,
 Future Prospects of Advanced ZPF Technologies 15

Zero Point Energy: the Fuel of the Future, and in the Proceedings of SPESIF
2012, as a result of Dr. Moddel's experimental confirmation of a zero-point
energy emission from a Casimir cavity.
Another quantum vacuum photon emitter has recently been discovered to
be none other than the lowly LED, with the phrase “exceeding unity efficiency”.
With such an efficiency of over 200%, the carefully measured phenomenon has
no other explanation of where the energy can come from. In their experiments, the
researchers reduced the LED's input power to just 30 picowatts and measured an
output of 69 picowatts of light - an efficiency of 230%. The physical mechanisms
worked the same as with any LED: when excited by the applied voltage, electrons
and holes have a certain probability of generating photons. The researchers didn't
try to increase this probability, as some previous research has focused on, but
instead took advantage of small amounts of excess heat to emit more power than
consumed. This heat arises from vibrations in the device's atomic lattice, which
occur due to entropy. This light-emitting process cools the LED slightly, making
it operate similar to a thermoelectric cooler. Although the cooling is insufficient
to provide practical cooling at room temperature, it could potentially be used for
designing lights that don't generate heat. When used as a heat pump, since the
overunity occurs at temperatures above 130 degrees Celsius, the device might be
useful for solid-state cooling applications or even power generation. Theoretically,
this low-voltage strategy allows for an arbitrarily efficient generation of photons
at low voltages. For this reason, the researchers hope that the technique could
offer a new way to test the limits of energy-efficiency electromagnetic
communication.[20]
There are also plenty of other quantum modalities for the proposed
conversion of the ZPF negative energy into useful electricity, such as
thermodynamic Brownian ratchets that rectify a fluctuating potential. Astumian
proposes a fluctuating electrical potential that causes the uphill transport of a
particle. A fluctuating potential energy profile is provided with an anisotropic
sawtooth function Usaw and periodically spaced wells with no net macroscopic
force. When the potential is off, the energy profile is flat with a uniform force
everywhere. When the potential is turned on again, the particle is trapped in one
of the wells. The result is resolved into two components: the downhill drift and
the diffusive spreading of the probability distribution. For intermediate times, it is
more likely for a particle to be trapped in one of the uphill wells if the potential
were turned back on, than between the first and second well. Thus, turning the
potential on and off cyclically can cause motion to the right and uphill against
gravity despite the net force to the left. The theory has been successfully tested
with colloidal particles with anisotropic electrodes turned on and off, as well as
with an optical trap modulated to create a sawtooth potential.[21]
The well known built-in voltage potential for some select semiconductor
p-n junctions and various rectifying devices is also proposed to be favorable for
generating DC electricity at “zero bias” (with no DC bias voltage applied) in the
presence of Johnson noise or 1/f noise which originates from the quantum
16 Thomas Valone

vacuum.[22] The 1982 Koch discovery that certain solid state devices exhibit
measurable quantum noise has also recently been labeled a finding of dark energy
in the lab.[23] Tunnel diodes are a class of rectifiers that are qualified and some
have been credited with conducting only because of quantum fluctuations.
Microwave diodes are also good choices since many are designed for zero bias
operation. A completely passive, unamplified zero bias diode converter/detector
for millimeter (GHz) waves was developed by HRL Labs in 2006 under a
DARPA contract, utilizing a Sb-based "backward tunnel diode" (BTD). It is
reported to be a "true zero-bias diode". It was developed for a "field radiometer"
to "collect thermally radiated power" (in other words, 'night vision'). The diode
array mounting allows a feed from horn antenna, which functions as a passive
concentrating amplifier. An important clue is the "noise equivalent power" of 1.1
pW per root hertz and the "noise equivalent temperature difference" of 10°K,
which indicate sensitivity to Johnson noise.[24] There also have been other
inventions such as "single electron transistors" that also have "the highest signal
to noise ratio" near zero bias. Furthermore, "ultrasensitive" devices that convert
radio frequencies have been invented that operate at outer space temperatures (3
degrees above zero point: 3°K). These devices are tiny nanotech devices which
are suitable for assembly in parallel circuits (such as a 2-D array) to possibly
produce zero point energy direct current electricity with significant power
density.[25] Photovoltaic p-n junction cells are also considered for possible higher
frequency ZPE transduction. Diode arrays of self-assembled molecular rectifiers
or preferably, nano-sized cylindrical diodes are shown to reasonably provide for
rectification of electron fluctuations from thermal and non-thermal ZPE sources to
create an alternative energy DC electrical generator in the picowatt per diode
range.[26]

5 CONCLUSION

Though today’s trend toward energy harvesting is supportive of this

chapter’s thesis, it should be noted that the proposed zero-bias diode design is
novel. With the entire electronics industry focused solely on noise reduction, it is
interesting to also see the referenced work in this chapter dedicated to rectifying
vacuum fluctuations and thermal noise. It is well known that broadband electrical
noise exists and it is time to start using it constructively. Designing the best zero
bias diode array or the best Casimir cavity for the job of harvesting it is another
engineering effort that is certainly to succeed by 2050. Certainly, a new research
direction is inevitable in order to reverse the present noise reduction trend in zero
bias diodes in favor of noise amplification, noise equivalent power increase, and
high noise to signal ratios suitable for energy harvesting rectifiers. Such a
research effort is found in the literature with the investigation of the necessary
conditions for enhancement of shot noise attributed to “electrostatic-potential
fluctuations” and that it results in charge accumulation rather than system
instability. [27] With all of the examples of emerging ZPF technology in this
 Future Prospects of Advanced ZPF Technologies 17

chapter, it is expected that the next few decades will see a revolution in energy
and propulsion worthy of science fiction, which always results in science fact that
is more amazing than we dreamed.

REFERENCES

[1] Deffeyes, Kenneth. Hubbert’s Peak: The Impending World Oil Shortage. Princeton
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[2] Brown, Lester, and Christopher Flavin, Hilary French. The State of the World,
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[3] Greer, Steven. “Disclosure: Implications for the Environment, World Peace,
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[4] Valone, Thomas. Electrogravitics Systems and Electrogravitics II, both published by
Integrity Research Institute, Beltsville MD, www.IntegrityResearchInstitute.org

[5] Rich, Ben. Skunk Works: A Personal Memoir of My Years at Lockheed, Little, Brown,
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[6] Haisch, Bernard, and Alfonso Rueda, Harold Puthoff. “Inertia as a zero-point-
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[7] Feigel, A. “Quantum vacuum contribution to the momentum of dielectric media.”

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[8] Froning, H.D. and R.L. Roach “Preliminary simulations of vehicle interactions with the
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[9] Rueda, A. and Bernard Haisch. “Electromagnetic Zero Point Field as Active Energy
Source in the Intergalactic Medium.” 35th AIAA/ASME/SAE/ASEE Joint Propulsion
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[10] Zee, A. Quantum Field Theory in a Nutshell, Princeton University Press, 2003, p. 233

[11] Milonni, Peter. The Quantum Vacuum. Academic Press, San Diego, 1994, p. 12

[12] Bohm, D. and J.P. Vigier “Model of the Causal Interpretation of Quantum Theory in
Terms of a Fluid with Irregular Fluctuations” Phys. Rev. Vol. 96, No. 1, 1954, p. 208
18 Thomas Valone

[13] http://www.abovetopsecret.com/forum/thread178900/pg1 and also,

http://www.schwartzreport.net/

[14] Pinto, F. “Engine cycle of an optically controlled vacuum energy transducer” Physical
Review B, Vol. 60, No. 21, 1999, p. 14740

[15] Pinto, p. 14748

[16] Valone, Thomas. , Practical Conversion of Zero-Point Energy: Feasibility Study of the
Extraction of Zero-Point Energy from the Quantum Vacuum for the Performance of Useful
Work, Integrity Research Institute, 2009 edition, p. 45, also available from Amazon.com

[17] Harris, David. Harnessing the Power of Empty Space, New Scientist, February 20, 2012

[18] Moore, Gerald. Journal of Mathematical Physics, vol 11, p 2679

[19] Wilson, Christopher. Nature, vol 479, p 376

[20] Santhanam, Parthiban, et al. "Thermoelectrically Pumped Light-Emitting Diodes

Operating above Unity Efficiency." Phys. Rev. Lett. 108, 09740 (2012). DOI:
10.1103/PhysRevLett.108.097403

[21] Astumian, R. D. “Thermodynamics and Kinetics of a Brownian Motor.” Science, 276,

1997, p. 917

[22] Koch, R. H., Van Harlingen, D. J., and Clarke, J., “Measurements of Quantum Noise In
Resistively Shunted Josephson Junctions”, Physical Review B, Vol. 26, No. 1, July, (1982),
p. 74.

[23] Beck, Christian and Mackey, Michael, “Could dark energy be measured in the lab?”
Phys. Letters B, V. 605, (2005), p. 295

[24] Lynch, J., Moyer, H., Schulman, J., Lawyer, P., Bowen, R., Schaffner, J., Choudhury,
D., Foschaar, J., Chow, D., "Unamplified Direct Detection Sensor for Passive Millimeter
Wave Imaging" in the Proceedings of Passive Millimeter-Wave Imaging Technology IX,
edited by Roger Appleby, Proc. of SPIE, V. 6211, (2006), p. 621101

[25] Brenning, H., Karanov, S., Duty, T., Kubatkin, S., and Delsing, P., “An ultrasensitive
radio-frequency single-electron transistor working up to 4.2 K”, J. Appl. Phys. 100, (2006), p.
114321

[26] Valone, Thomas. “Proposed Use of Zero Bias Diode Arrays as Thermal Electric Noise
Rectifiers and Non-Thermal Energy Harvesters”, Proceedings of Space, Propulsion and
Energy Sciences International Forum (SPESIF), Workshop on Future Energy Sources,
 Future Prospects of Advanced ZPF Technologies 19

American Institute of Physics, American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Huntsville

AL, February 24, 2009. Paper posted online at www.IntegrityResearchInstitute.org

[27] Song, W., Mendez, E., Kuznetsov, V., and Nielsen, B., “Shot noise in negative-
differential-conductance devices”, App. Phys. Letters, Vol. 82, No. 10, 2003, p. 1568

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