Solid liner compression of working fluid to megabar range

Summary form only given. We have used 12 megamp, 5 megajoule axial discharges to electromagnetically implode tapered thickness spherical aluminum shells, achieving peak implosion velocities above 20 km/sec inner surface, 10 km/sec thickness averaged. The shell thickness was proportional to the inverse of the square of the cylindrical radius. This causes the ratio of magnetic pressure to shell areal mass density (and spherical acceleration) to be independent of polar angle, so that the spherical shape is nominally maintained during the implosion. We have used these implosions to compress hot hydrogen plasmas with initial pressure about 100 atm and initial temperature above 1 eV. The hot hydrogen plasmas were injected beforehand using 1 megamp, 100 kilojoule range co-axial gun discharges through a circular array of vanes to strip away magnetic field. The imploding shell and the compressed hot hydrogen working fluid´s effect on a diagnostic compression target were observed with radiography.