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Poster Session I

4:30 pm – 6:30 pm, Tuesday October 14 Session DT4 COEX, Lobby E
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Investigation of Warm Dense Matter with Under Water Exploding Wire (UEWE)

Poster 12
Presenter: Marcus Iberler (Institut for Applied Science)
Authors: Andre Michel (Goethe University Frankfurt), Marius Dehmer (Goethe University Frankfurt - Institute of Applied Physics), Gustav Schmidt (Goethe University Frankfurt - Institute of Applied Physics), Joachim Jacoby (Goethe University Frankfurt - Institute of Applied Physics)
Collaboration: Marius Dehmer, Gustav Schmidt, Andre Michel and Joachim Jacoby

The Underwater Electrical Wire Explosion (UEWE) project aims to generate and investigate warm dense matter (WDM) with temeratures of 1-2 eV.This WDM is an extreme state of matter located at the intersection of condensed matter and plasma physics. WDM is typically characterized as a strongly coupled, high-density plasma, deviating significantly from ideal plasma behavior. A promising approach for producing WDM is the underwater electrical explosion of thin metal wires, driven by a pulsed-power system. In our setup, two parallel-connected capacitors—charged to up to 40 kV and storing a total energy of 8 kJ—serve as the main energy source. Discharge is initiated via a cold cathode thyratron (pseudo-spark switch), enabling current rise rates of 10¹⁰ A/s and peak currents exceeding 100 kA. The high-current pulse is delivered through a coaxial transmission line to a tantalum wire submerged in water. The wire is rapidly heated and simultaneously compressed by the surrounding medium, forming a dense plasma. To characterize the explosion, we perform electrical diagnostics (voltage and current), optical imaging (with a CCD camera and time-resolved streak camera measurements), and observe shock and acoustic wave propagation. Additionally, proton radiography is employed to probe the internal density distribution of the plasma.

Funding acknowledgement

Founding by BMBF

POSTERS (97)