Ionic collisions in metallic lattices under transient current pulses

¹ Dept. of Electrical & Electronic Engineering, National Technical University of Athens, 11253 Athens, Greece
² Division of Applied Technologies, National Centre for Science and Research “Demokritos”, Patriarchou Grigoriou & Neapoleos, 11253 Athens, Greece

Corresponding author: rtheo@dat.demokritos.gr

Received: 22 August 2010
Revised: 24 December 2010
Accepted: 7 January 2011
Published online: 13 April 2011

Abstract

A novel method for ionic collisions is presented based on a theoretical analysis of the long-standing wire fragmentation problem. Based on a Maxwellian approach of the transient electrodynamic forces we deduce a theoretical formula of the effective tensile force. A number of conducted experiments with low energy capacitor bank discharges are also reported with positive results. The new results show the possibility of building solid state ion colliders below the fragmentation threshold using high power electrical pulses with very low energy.