An explosive-driven ferroelectric generator (EDFEG, explosively pumped ferroelectric generator, EPFEG, or FEG) is a compact

pulsed power Pulsed power is the science and technology of accumulating energy over a relatively long period of time and releasing it instantly, thus increasing the instantaneous power. They can be used in some applications such as food processing, water treatme ...

generator, a device used for generation of short high-

voltage Voltage, also known as electric pressure, electric tension, or (electric) potential difference, is the difference in electric potential between two points. In a static electric field, it corresponds to the work needed per unit of charge to m ...

high-

current Currents, Current or The Current may refer to: Science and technology * Current (fluid), the flow of a liquid or a gas ** Air current, a flow of air ** Ocean current, a current in the ocean *** Rip current, a kind of water current ** Current (stre ...

pulse. The energies available are fairly low, in the range of single joules, the voltages range in tens of kilovolts to over 100 kV, and the powers range in hundreds of kilowatts to megawatts.
They are suitable for delivering

high voltage High voltage electricity refers to electrical potential large enough to cause injury or damage. In certain industries, ''high voltage'' refers to voltage above a certain threshold. Equipment and conductors that carry high voltage warrant spec ...

pulses to high- impedance loads and can directly drive radiating circuits. ECFEGs operate by releasing the electrical charge stored in the poled crystal structure of a suitable

ferroelectric material Ferroelectricity is a characteristic of certain materials that have a spontaneous electric polarization that can be reversed by the application of an external electric field. All ferroelectrics are also piezoelectric and pyroelectric, with the add ...

, e.g.

PZT Lead zirconate titanate is an inorganic compound with the chemical formula (0≤''x''≤1), commonly abbreviated as PZT. Also called lead zirconium titanate, it is a ceramic perovskite material that shows a marked piezoelectric effect, meaning t ...

, by an intense mechanical shoc

They are a kind of

phase transition In chemistry, thermodynamics, and other related fields, a phase transition (or phase change) is the physical process of transition between one state of a medium and another. Commonly the term is used to refer to changes among the basic states of ...

generators. The structure of an EDFEG is generally a block of a suitable

high explosive An explosive (or explosive material) is a reactive substance that contains a great amount of potential energy that can produce an explosion if released suddenly, usually accompanied by the production of light, heat, sound, and pressure. An exp ...

, accelerating a metal plate into a target made of ferroelectric materia

FEGs find multiple uses due to their compact character; charging banks of capacitors, initiation of

slapper detonator A slapper detonator, also called exploding foil initiator (EFI), is a relatively recent kind of a detonator developed by Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, US Patent No. 4,788,913. It is an improvement of the earlier exploding-bridgewire deto ...

arrays in

nuclear weapon A nuclear weapon is an explosive device that derives its destructive force from nuclear reactions, either fission (fission bomb) or a combination of fission and fusion reactions ( thermonuclear bomb), producing a nuclear explosion. Both bom ...

s and other devices, driving

nuclear fusion Nuclear fusion is a reaction in which two or more atomic nuclei are combined to form one or more different atomic nuclei and subatomic particles ( neutrons or protons). The difference in mass between the reactants and products is manifest ...

reactions, powering pulsed

neutron generator Neutron generators are neutron source devices which contain compact linear particle accelerators and that produce neutrons by fusing isotopes of hydrogen together. The fusion reactions take place in these devices by accelerating either deuteri ...

s, seed power sources for stronger pulse generators (e.g. EPFCGs),

electromagnetic pulse An electromagnetic pulse (EMP), also a transient electromagnetic disturbance (TED), is a brief burst of electromagnetic energy. Depending upon the source, the origin of an EMP can be natural or artificial, and can occur as an electromagnetic fie ...

generators, electromagnetic weapons,

vector inversion generator A vector inversion generator (VIG) is an electric pulse compression and voltage multiplication device, allowing shaping a slower, lower voltage pulse to a narrower, higher-voltage one. VIGs are used in military technology, e.g. some directed-energ ...

s, etc. A 2.4 megawatt HERF generator (an EDFEG with a

pulse forming network A pulse-forming network (PFN) is an electric circuit that accumulates electrical energy over a comparatively long time, and then releases the stored energy in the form of a relatively square pulse of comparatively brief duration for various puls ...

directly driving a

dipole antenna In radio and telecommunications a dipole antenna or doublet is the simplest and most widely used class of antenna. The dipole is any one of a class of antennas producing a radiation pattern approximating that of an elementary electric dipole w ...

) with peak output frequency at 21.4 MHz was demonstrate

References

Explosive pulsed power: an enabling technology
Pulsed power Ferroelectric materials {{technology-stub

See also

References