Investigation of Warm Dense Matter with Under Water Exploding Wire (UEWE)

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.