The process of light ion acceleration using electrostatic fields and deuterium ions to produce fusion in solid deuterated targets was first demonstrated by Cockcroft and Walton in 1932 (see Cockcroft–Walton generator). That process is used in miniaturized versions of their original accelerator, in the form of small sealed tube neutron generators, for petroleum exploration.
The process of pyroelectricity has been known from ancient times. The first use of a pyroelectric field to accelerate deuterons was in a 1997 experiment conducted by Drs. V.D. Dougar Jabon, G.V. Fedorovich, and N.V. Samsonenko. This group was the first to utilize a lithium tantalate () pyroelectric crystal in fusion experiments.
The novel idea with the pyroelectric approach to fusion is in its application of the pyroelectric effect to generate accelerating electric fields. This is done by heating the crystal from &minus;34 °C to +7 °C over a period of a few minutes.
Nuclear D-D fusion driven by pyroelectric crystals was proposed by Naranjo and Putterman in 2002. It was also discussed by Brownridge and Shafroth in 2004. The possibility of using pyroelectric crystals in a neutron production device (by D-D fusion) was proposed in a conference paper by Geuther and Danon in 2004 and later in a publication discussing electron and ion acceleration by pyroelectric crystals. None of these later authors had prior knowledge of the earlier 1997 experimental work conducted by Dougar Jabon, Fedorovich, and Samsonenko which mistakenly believed that fusion occurred within the crystals. The key ingredient of using a tungsten needle to produce sufficient ion beam current for use with a pyroelectric crystal power supply was first demonstrated in the 2005 Nature paper, although in a broader context tungsten emitter tips have been used as ion sources in other applications for many years. In 2010, it was found that tungsten emitter tips are not necessary to increase the acceleration potential of pyroelectric crystals; the acceleration potential can allow positive ions to reach kinetic energies between 300 and 310 keV.