Lab-to-Lab Scientific Collaborations Between Los Alamos and Arzamas-16 Using Explosive-Driven Flux Compression Generators - Related Topics

Aug 25, 2026

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Focus on explosive-driven flux compression as a method to generate ultra-high magnetic fields far hotter than prior electromagnetic efforts. Describes an international context spanning the 1965 Frascati conference and later Russian-American collaboration, highlighting Max Fowler’s pursuit of megagauss fields and the Soviet program’s early origins. Traces Soviet advances at Arzamas-16, including generators producing megagauss fields and very large currents, and explains why shared technical scope fueled later cooperative research despite limited conference participation.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

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Pages24

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Lab-to-Lab

Scientific Collaborations Between Los Alamos and Arzamas-16

Explosive-Driven Flux Compression Generators

The Russian Magnetic-Flux Compression Program

Early origins and Sakharov’s ideas

Development at Arzamas-16 and key generators

The Russian-American PulsedPower Collaborations

In the midst of a cold Russian winter, these Russian and American experimentalists attempted to produce a plasma that was one hundred times hotter than the surface of the sun. 48 Los Alamos Science Number 24 1996 Lab-to-Lab Scientiﬁc Collaborations Between Los Alamos and Arzamas-16 Using Explosive-Driven Flux Compression Generators Stephen Younger, Irvin Lindemuth, Robert Reinovsky, C. Maxwell Fowler, James Goforth, and Carl Ekdahl The ﬁrst international conference netic ﬁelds above 10 megagauss (mega means of achieving thermonuclear fu on Megagauss Magnetic Field = 106) . By comparison, the Earth’s sion (the process by which the sun pro Generation and Related Topics magnetic ﬁeld is about 0.5 gauss, and duces energy), which might make availwas held in 1965 in Frascati, Italy. By that of an ordinary refrigerator magnet able to the world an unlimited energy then, Max Fowler, source. Even without Wray Garn, and Bob that exceptionally Caird had already practical goal, Fowler spent the better part and his team recogof eight years pro- nized that ultrahigh ducing megagauss magnetic ﬁelds and magnetic ﬁelds. The intense electrical cursmall group of Los rents could ﬁnd apAlamos scientists had plication in the study pioneered a technique of phenomena rangcalled magnetic-ﬂux ing from material compression, which properties to x-ray takes the energy generation. stored in the chemi- While thumbing cal bonds of high ex- through the abstracts plosives and converts submitted to that it to magnetic ﬁeld 1965 conference, energy. The energy Fowler, to his suris then delivered to prise, noticed that an experiment as a some were from the pulse of either ex- A smiling Steve Younger congratulates Russian delegation leader Alexander Soviet Union. Nine tremely strong mag- Bykov after the success of the ﬁrst, collaborative, nonweapons-related scientiﬁc teen scientists were netic ﬁeld or ex- experiment to be carried out on U.S. soil. The experiment, performed by Russian represented in eight tremely large nuclear-weapon scientists and their Los Alamos counterparts, occurred in De- abstracts, and the So electrical current. cember 1993. On the left is Russian translator Elena Gerdova. viets were going to Although the Los discuss the generation Alamos magnetic-ﬂux compression ef- about 10 gauss. of megagauss ﬁelds by the technique of fort was relatively modest, Fowler and One of Fowler’s motivations for magnetic-ﬂux compression. his team had achieved considerable suc- building these devices was to use the “That was the ﬁrst time I had seen cess at building ﬂux compression gen- enormous ﬁeld to contain or compress a anything of their work.” said Fowler. erators and had already produced mag- plasma. This compression could be a “We had certainly never met any of Number 24 1996 Los Alamos Science 49 Lab-to-Lab Scientiﬁc Interactions A time sequence of an explosive-driven, magnetic-ﬂux compression experiment performed at the Ancho Canyon site in Los Alamos. The time elapsed between the ﬁrstand last photos is on the order of ﬁfty milliseconds. them. It was strange, because their work seemed to be of the same scope as ours, and they were alluding to the same problems and the same solutions.” But the papers referenced by those abstracts were never submitted to the conference. No Soviet scientists attended, and the international community was left with only a tantalizing glimpse of the Soviet research program. The Russian Magnetic-Flux Compression Program We now know that the Soviet work had begun as early as 1951 when Andrei Sakharov, one of the premier scientists of the Soviet nuclear weapons program and winner of the 1975 Nobel Prize for peace, had sketched out an idea for compressing magnetic ﬂux and generating high ﬁelds or currents. Like Fowler, Sakharov was seeking a means to achieve thermonuclear fusion, and he helped identify several schemes in which high magnetic ﬁelds could potentially help the fusion proc

FAQs

What is explosive-driven flux compression, and why is it important?

Explosive-driven flux compression rapidly converts energy into magnetic fields or currents, enabling research with megagauss-level field strengths.

Which teams and sites were central to the Los Alamos–Arzamas-16 collaboration?

Los Alamos researchers collaborated with Soviet scientists from Arzamas-16, the site of the All-Russian (VNIIEF) experimental physics institute.

How did the Soviet magnetic-flux compression program begin, and what role did Sakharov play?

The program traces back to Sakharov’s early sketches for compressing magnetic flux and generating high fields or currents, which helped launch sustained generator development.

Aug 25, 2026

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