Exploring the formation and evolution of the plasma radiation from exploding single wires

Summary form only given. In this paper we describe a series of single wire explosion experiments that have been performed at Cornell´s Laboratory of Plasma Studies. Wires of Ag, Cu, Au, Al and W, 1 to 3 cm in length and 10 to 25 microns in diameter, were driven by a /spl sim/100 ns current pulse with a current rise time of approximately 30 A/ns. Previously it has been found that the wires, in general, experienced a 50-85 ns resistive heating phase that was terminated by a rapid collapse of voltage. We attribute this voltage collapse to the formation of a coronal plasma around the wire core. In order to understand this plasma formation and its effect on the voltage collapse, experimental observations of plasma radiation from single wire explosions have been made with an optical framing camera as well as UV and optically sensitive diodes. The temporal and spatial dynamics of the plasma expansion were observed. The relative timing of the voltage collapse and the radiation was examined.