High Speed Convergent Shockwaves Driven in Dielectrics Driven by Exploding Wires on the 14MA M3 Pulse-Powered Facility

The implosion of fast, convergent shock waves driven via the electrical explosion of cylindrical wire arrays embedded in insulator offers a highly efficient method of generating extreme pressures. At low currents (~30kA) the increased density on axis was directly observed at the ESRF synchroton; at higher currents - up to 2.5MA on the Cepage generator at First Light Fusion - the implosion dynamics imply pressures >Mbar exist in warm dense plasma on axis. How this process scales to currents >5MA is unclear - a limit could exist on the speed at which the shockwaves are initially projected from the wires, set by the rate of energy deposition into the wires.