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

从巨型地球的核心到中子星的表面，极端压力下的物质构成了星际天体的大部分。了解这些物质的性质对于开发能够预测恒星形成和行星碰撞的数值模型至关重要。这些模型还有助于科学家评估太阳系外行星上存在生命的可能性。目前，科学界对星际天体物质知之甚少，因为它们不是自然存在于地球上的。然而，使用该项目将开发的仪器类型，可以在实验室中生产和研究类天体物质。即将开发的仪器--极端状态高安培驱动器(HADES)--可以在几分之一秒内产生相当于数百个发电厂的电力，在极端压力下只需要很少的能量就能产生物质。哈迪斯的新颖设计将高效的架构和紧凑的占地面积结合在一起，将这种极端的功率封装在一个略大于汽车的设备中。因此，哈迪斯可以在大学环境中使用，大学通常没有能力在这些条件下研究物质。该系统还将具有足够的移动性，可以放置在其他设施中，在那里可以使用更多的诊断方法来测量极端压力下物质的性质。了解这种材料将对生命的许多领域产生深远的影响，如开发新材料、利用聚变能源以及在其他星球上发现生命。哈迪斯的创新设计、建造和运行还将培养物理学和工程学方面的新人才，使美国保持在基础科学和发现的前沿。物理探索的前沿已经开始理解无限小的(量子力学)和无限大的(天体物理学)：极端物理。突破性发现的下一步面临着一个巨大的挑战：研究地球上不自然存在的物质，因为它密度太大，在大气压下不稳定，或者太大，无法放入实验室。为了解决这个问题，科学家们需要开发能够处理产生此类物质所需的高能量密度的新仪器。极端状态高安培驱动器(HADES)是一种250GW脉冲功率驱动器，旨在生产和研究这种物质。该驱动器可以在250 ns内产生1.2 mA的电流。司机的创新设计紧凑，可以移动到任何主要的美国设施，在那里X射线光源可以探测哈迪斯将产生的物质。由哈迪斯促成的研究计划的智力价值基于三个互补的研究方向，与NSF对未来科学投资的愿景相一致：量子简并材料、奇异天体和天体生物学。HADES的高功率密度和多功能性促进了一个跨越物理学、天体物理学、工程学和行星科学的共生、多样化的研究计划，方法是定义温暖的量子简并物质的宏观样本的物理性质，研究强磁场对炎热、湍急的天体物理流动的影响，以及了解地球化学和行星宜居性之间的联系。使用哈迪斯对物质极端状态的实验研究将对科学界和公众产生更广泛的影响。经过实验验证的输运系数模型将直接适用于天体物理、惯性聚变约束和行星科学。哈迪斯的建造和运行，以及它所带来的研究，也有助于培养新一代极端状态物理和脉冲功率工程的学生。最终，该项目将加强国家极端状态物理研究计划，并允许在实验室研究迄今无法获得的宇宙物理。

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.