Numerical Simulations of Foil Electrical Explosion under Helical EMG Current Drive for Warm Dense Matter Generation

Warm Dense Matter (WDM), i. e. substance at densities of the order of that of solids and temperatures of the order of 1-10 eV, can be produced using a helical explosive magnetic flux compression generator (EMG) with an opening switch. A diameter 200 mm EMG with an explosive opening switch can deliver a current of similar to 5 MA with a characteristic rise time of 0.3 mu s to drive thick wires (posts) and study WDM in larger volumes than on stationary facilities. An improved WDM generation system was investigated, in which WDM is produced in cylindrical geometry as a result of an electrical explosion of a thin metal foil, surrounded by an insulator. It is shown that in such a system driven by an EMG with an opening switch one can obtain a large volume of matter with density on the order of (0.01-1) of solid density and temperature about 2-3 eV with better accessibility for electric measurements.