Recent electromagnetic flux compression research at Loughborough University

Loughborough University has an ongoing research programme dedicated to the generation and measurement of ultrahigh magnetic fields, and this paper records some of the most significant findings that have so far been achieved. After presenting results obtained from the detailed two-dimensional modelling of /spl theta/-pinch electromagnetic flux compression, the paper makes suggestions for the improvement of this technique. A discussion follows of experimental results obtained when an imploding copper liner, used together with a novel insulator-metallic phase transition cascading technique, enabled magnetic flux densities exceeding 350 T to be generated and reliably measured even during the presence of major liner instabilities. The paper concludes by demonstrating the behaviour that results when a further novel phase transition technique is implemented into an exploding single-turn discharge. The most significant outcome is that ultrahigh magnetic flux densities can be sustained for much longer times than in conventional single-turn discharge experiments.