Exploding Wire as Fast Dynamic Pinch

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Abstract
The high‐current electric discharge through fine wires is studied under experimental conditions in which the interaction of the discharge with its self‐magnetic field is dominant. When the wire is composed of an element or elements of low atomic number, the discharge is found to have many of the characteristics of pinch discharges in gases. A capacitor bank of 1.75 μf and a voltage rating of 100 kv was used with a switching spark gap and circuit of very low parasitic inductance. The parasitic inductance of the condensers and circuit was measured to be 0.05 μh while the ringing frequency of the discharge was 370 kc. Wires of copper, aluminum, polyethylene, lithium, and lithium‐lithium hydride were exploded. The discharge was photographed with streak and framing cameras and oscillograms taken of the discharge current and its time rate of change. Wires composed of lithium‐lithium deuteride were observed to give neutron yields of the order of 106 per shot. The neutron yields were measured with a silver‐foil activation counter.

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