Core structure and secondary breakdown of an exploding wire in the current-pause regime

The results of experiments with rapidly exploding thin conductors inthe current-pause regime are presented.Copper wires 25mmin diameter and 12 mm in length serve as loads for a GVP pulsed generator based on a low-inductance capacitor.The generator produces current pulses of up to 10 kA with dI/dt up to 50 A/ns.A 100–800-ns current-pause regime is obtained for charging voltages of 10–15 kV.The discharge channel structure is studied by shadow photography using 0.53-mm,10-ns second-harmonic pulses from aNd31:YAG laser.In the experiments,three types of secondary breakdown are observed,with different symmetry types,different current-pause durations,and different dependences on the energy deposited into the wire during its resistive heating.All of these breakdown types develop inside a tubular core that is produced in the current-pause stage and that remains almost undamaged by the breakdown.