High intensity electron beam as a tool for warm dense matter studies

The target material can be heated to the warm dense matter (WDM) state by irradiation with a 20 MeV, 2.5 kA, 70 ns electron beam, and the measurements of equation of state, electrical conductivity and opacity can be carried out. The beam and target interaction for WDM research on DRAGON-Ⅰ linear induction accelerator and diagnostic technologies are introduced in this paper. Simulation results of the electron energy deposition and hydrodynamic response of 0.3-mm-diameter and 1-mm-length target wires made of different metals are presented. The results show that the temperature rise in the target wires increases and the uniformity of the temperature distribution decreases, as the atomic number increases. For metal with relatively high atomic number, such as tantalum, the temperature in the wire could rise to about 1.6 eV at 40 ns.