Proton Radiography of Underwater Electrical Wire Explosion

Abstract

By the use of Underwater Electrical Wire Explosion (UEWE) one can create and study Warm Dense Matter (WDM) in laboratory. With a moderate pulsed power generator (10µF@40kV, cylindrical strip line, thyratron as switch) it is possible to create dense plasmas with 5-100 kJ/g specific energy, near-solid density and 1-2 eV temperature. Due to the high electric breakdown threshold of water (>300 kV/cm) and relatively small wire expansion velocity (~ 1km/s) there’s no parasitic plasma formation along the wire surface. This makes UEWE an efficient method to study the fundamental properties of metals in extreme states.