School of Electronic, Electrical and Systems Engineering

The Pulsed Power Group has been at the forefront of pulsed power physics and technology in the UK for the last 25 years. During this period state-of-the-art pulsed power systems have been developed and many important novel technologies at the cutting edge of the field have been investigated. The excellent technical facilities available and the high-level security clearance of several staff enables classified work to be undertaken. A broad range of applications is actively pursued, in such  fields as the aerospace industry, medicine, biology and the defence industry.

Currently, the  Loughborough Pulsed Power Group is among the largest UK academic groups for engineering research in  pulsed power technologies,  with an unequivocal international reputation.

The existing areas of technical expertise are numerous, with the most important being:

• Compact and repetitive high-voltage pulsed generators
• Explosively-driven flux-compression generators
• Fast transient diagnostics: high voltage, high current and photonic (electro-optical and magneto-optical) sensors
• Ultrahigh magnetic field indoor generation (up to 350 T)
• Exploding wire physics and technology
• 2D filamentary modelling
• Applications of electromagnetic launchers
• Electromagnetic protection
• Magnetic insulation
• Repetitive UWB sources
• Opening switches: plasma and explosive
• Ozone production
• Unconventional microwave generators
• and many others,

Our research is strongly supported both by government agencies such as EPSRC, Dstl (MoD) and AWE and by major industrial organisations such as MBDA UK Ltd, BAE Systems and QinetiQ. Over the years the group has developed strong links with research groups in France, Sweden, Korea, Taiwan and USA.

The group also delivers international courses on pulsed power:

• Magnetic Flux Compression
  (provided in the UK, Germany, S. Korea, Taiwan, USA)
• Pulsed Power Physics and Technology
  (provided in the UK, Taiwan, USA)

• A miniature plasma opening switch
• Novel, non-invasive PEF technology
• Magnetically-insulated transformers
• Electro-optic measurement of fast transient and intense electric fields
• Filamentary modelling of FLUXAR (flux-trapping) systems
• High voltage and high energy power sources
• Compact and repetitive Tesla-based high-voltage generators

Company collaborations

BAE Systems
MBDA
QinetiQ
Dstl
Digitimer

Individual Collaborations

Dr. Charles Mielke
LANL
USA

Dr. Laurent Pecastaing
Pau University,
France

Dr. Jean Larour
Ecole Polytechnique
France

Dr. Sten Nydholm
FOI
Sweden

A full list of Professor Smith's and Dr Novac's publications can be seen on their personal profile pages.

Prof I R Smith - Selected publications

Altgilbers, L.L., Brown, M.D.J., Grishnaev, I., Novac, B.M., Smith, I.R., Tkach, I. and Tkach, Y., Magnetocumulative Generators, Springer-Verlag, New York, 2000, 422 pp,

Stewardson, H.R., Novac, B.M., Miran, S.M., Smith, I.R. and Enache, M.C., ''A Two-Stage Exploding-Foil/Plasma Erosion Opening Switch Conditioning System'', Journal of Physics D: Applied Physics, 30, March 1997, pp 1011-1016, I

Novac, B.M., Smith, I.R., Enache, M.C. and Stewardson, H.R., ''2D Modelling of Inductively Coupled Helical Flux-Compression Generators - FLUXAR Systems'', Laser and Particle Beams, 15(3), October 1997, pp 397-412,

Shah, R.D., Cliffe, R.J., Smith, I.R., Novac, B.M. and Senior, P., ''Electrooptic Measurement of 500kV Pulsed Voltages'', IEEE Transactions on Plasma Science, 305, October 2002, pp 1950-1954,

Cliffe, R.J., Smith, I.R. and Brown, J., ''Interfacing Transformer for a Pulsed Load Current Exceeding 1MA'', J. Phys. D: Appl. Phys., 3613, July 2003, pp 1651-1684

Novac, B.M, Smith, I.R., Rankin, D.F. and Hubbard, M., ''An Insulator-Metallic Phase Transition Cascade for Improved Electromagnetic Flux-Compression in theta-Pinch Geometry'', IEEE Transactions on Plasma Science, 325, October 2004, pp 1960-1965,

Novac, B.M, Istenic, M., Luo, J., Smith, I.R., Brown, J., Hubbard, M., Appelgren, P., Elfsberg, M., Hurtig, T., Moller, C., Larsson, A. and Nyholm, S.E., ''A 10-GW Pulsed Power Supply for HPM Sources'', IEEE Transactions on Plasma Science, 345, October 2006, pp 1814-1821,

Novac, B.M, Smith, I.R., Downes, P.R., Marston, P. and Fahey, D., ''Cockpit Canopy Shattering Using Exploding Wire Techniques'', Journal of Physics D : Applied Physics, 40, March 2007, pp. 2217-2222,

Istenic, M., Novac, B.M, Luo, J., Kumar, R. and Smith, I.R., ''A 1-MV Magnetically Insulated Tesla Transformer'', IEEE Transactions on Plasma Science, 36(5), October 2008, pp 2644-2650

Dr B M Novac – Selected publications

Altgilbers, L.L., Brown, M.D.J., Grishnaev, I., Novac, B.M., Smith, I.R., Tkach, I. and Tkach, Y., Magnetocumulative Generators, Springer-Verlag, New York, 2000, 422 pp,

Novac, B.M., Smith, I.R., Stewardson, H.R., Senior, P., Vadher, V.V. and Enache, M.C., ''Design, Construction and Testing of Explosive-Driven Helical Generators'', J Physics D, Applied Physics, 28, April 1995, pp 807-823,

Novac, B.M., Smith, I.R., Enache, M.C. and Stewardson, H.R., ''Simple 2D Model for Helical Flux-Compression Generators'', Laser and Particle Beams, 15(3), October 1997, pp 379-395,

Novac, B.M. and Smith, I.R., ''Considerations of an Autonomous Compact Source for High-Power Microwave Applications'', IEEE Transactions on Plasma Science (Special Issue on Pulsed Power Science & Technology), 28(5), October 2000, pp 1620-1623

Novac, B.M., Smith, I.R., Young, A.J., Miller, R.A. and Lynn, B., ''A Powerful Magnetic Stimulator for Medical Applications'', IEEE Transactions on Plasma Science, 305, 1st October 2002, 1982-1985,

Novac, B.M., Smith, I.R., Jarvis, P.E. and Abbott, C.J., ''Accelerating Conductors By Electromagnetic Action Through Metallic Shields'', IEEE Transactions On Magnetics, 391, 1st January 2003, 305-309, I

Novac, B.M., Smith, I.R., Rankin, D.F. and Hubbard, M., ''A Fast and Compact theta-pinch Electromagnetic Flux-Compression Generator'', Journal of Physics D: Applied Physics, 3721, 7th November 2004,

Sarkar, P., Braidwood, S., Smith, I.R., Novac, B.M, Miller, R.A. and Craven, R.M., ''A Compact Battery-Powered Half-Megavolt Transformer System for EMP Generation'', IEEE Transactions on Plasma Science, 345, October 2006, pp 1832-1837,

Appelgren, P., Bjarnholt, G., Brenning, N., Elfsberg, M., Hurtig, T., Larsson, A., Novac, B.M and Nyholm, S.E., ''Small Helical Magnetic Flux-Compression Generators: Experiments and Analysis'', IEEE Transactions on Plasma Science, 36(5), 2008, pp 2673-2683