...3628798...3628799....3628800.

Ok.

First off, all the papers are here.

http://www.utdallas.edu/research/quantum/isomer/isomerPubl.htm

You asked if I thought the research was bonafide. From the papers it seems that the phenomena is real but not that strong.

Some comments. When they talk about a 60 to 1 energy yield (actually higher with more recent results) this is describing a single reaction. One lucky photon 20 keV or more interacts with the nucleus to release 2.4 MeV (120x) through several different gamma ray emissions. This does not occur for every incident photon.

Don't confuse energy and power (energy/time). An x-ray resulting in a gamma ray with 100 times the energy is interesting. But how many x-rays it takes for this process (quantum efficency) is important. If you put in more power than you get out, it's not a very super battery.

So the science is right and interesting, but the engineering aspects of it seem a little anemic.

Of course, this wouldn't be the first time a researcher told a DoD-muffin(ARL, AFRL, NRL, DARPA, DEPSCoR) with more wallet than brains what they wanted to hear to fund marginally applicable research.

Physicists start yelling "Fresh Fish" when some uniformed brass enters the building.