MRI: Development of a Pulsed-Power Driver for the Experimental Investigation of Extreme States of Matter

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Materials under extreme pressures form the majority of interstellar bodies, from the core of Mega-Earths to the surface of neutron stars. Understanding the properties of these materials is paramount to developing numerical models capable of predicting star formation and planetary collisions. These models also help scientists to assess the potential for life on planets outside of our solar system. Currently, the scientific community knows very little about interstellar body materials since they do not occur naturally on Earth. However, pieces of celestial-like matter can be produced and studied in the laboratory using the type of instrumentation to be developed by this project. The instrument to be developed, High Amperage Driver for Extreme States (HADES), can generate power equivalent to hundreds of electrical power plants in a fraction of a second, requiring very little energy to produce matter under extreme pressure. HADES' novel design combines an efficient architecture with a compact footprint, packing this extreme power in a device slightly bigger than an automobile. Thus, HADES can be used in a university setting, which normally does not have the capacity to study matter under these conditions. The system will also be sufficiently mobile to be placed at other facilities, where more diagnostics may be available for measuring the properties of matter under extreme pressure. Understanding such materials will have a profound impact on many areas of life, such as developing new materials, harnessing fusion energy, and the discovery of life on other planets. The innovative design of HADES, its construction, and its operation will also foster new talent in physics and engineering, keeping the U.S. at the forefront of fundamental science and discovery. The frontiers of physical exploration have come to understanding the infinitely small (quantum mechanics), and the infinitely large (astrophysics): the physics of extremes. The next step in ground-breaking discoveries faces a big challenge: studying matter that does not exist naturally on Earth because it is too dense to be stable at atmospheric pressures or much too large to fit in a laboratory. To solve this problem, scientists need to develop new instruments capable of handling the high-energy densities required to produce such matter. The High Amperage Driver for Extreme States (HADES) is a 250 GW pulsed-power driver designed to produce and investigate this kind of matter. This driver can generate currents of 1.2 MA in 250 ns. The driver's innovative design is compact and can be moved to any major US facility where x-ray light sources can probe the matter HADES will generate. The intellectual merit of the research program enabled by HADES is grounded in three complementary research directions, in harmony with NSF's vision for future scientific investments: quantum-degenerate materials, exotic astrophysical objects, and astrobiology. The high-power density and versatility of HADES promotes a symbiotic, diversified research program across physics, astrophysics, engineering and planetary science by defining the physical properties of macroscopic samples of warm, quantum-degenerate matter, studying the impact of intense magnetic fields on hot, turbulent astrophysical flows, and understanding the connections between geochemistry and planetary habitability. The experimental investigation of extreme states of matter using HADES will have broader impacts on the scientific community and the public. Transport coefficient models, validated experimentally, will be directly applicable to astrophysics, inertial fusion confinement, and planetary science. The construction and operation of HADES, as well as the research it enables, are also instrumental in training new generations of students in extreme-state physics and pulsed-power engineering. Ultimately this project will strengthen the national research program in extreme state physics and allow heretofore inaccessible physics of the Cosmos to be studied in the laboratory.