Developments of a warm dense matter experiment using a pulsed power driver

Warm dense matter (WDM) is typically produce for experimental studies by high power lasers or intense heavy ions beams. Both techniques produce WDM that is confined only by material inertia. However, the study of bulk material properties (i.e. viscosity) benefits from experiments conducted on longer time scales. Pulsed-power drivers use magnetic fields to compress matter into WDM regimes. The magnetic field also provides the confinement time necessary to relax into this state at the mesoscale. Predictions made by numerical simulations (PERSEUS) have shown that a dielectric layer reduces initial instabilities in cylindrical samples.
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A mega-ampere pulsed power generator can confine WDM up to 10 Mbars. This research studies the impact of the dielectric layer on initial instabilities using MAIZE, a pulsed power generator located at the University of Michigan, with 1 MA peak current and 100 ns rise time into an impedance-matched load. We investigate the impact of an insulating polyurethane layer between coated and uncoated Al (1 mm OD) rods to determine how well the insulating layer dampens early-time expansion. A 12 frame laser backlighter is used to capture the expansion of the Al rod at 20 ns frame intervals. Peak currents of 300–400 kA were observed. Evaluation of the rod's expansion between uncoated and coated is presented.