Research

Featured Project: First shot on BLUE!

BLUE is the new 800-kV, 200-kA linear transformer driver (LTD) facility being constructed in the Plasma, Pulsed Power, and Microwave Laboratory at the University of Michigan. The construction of BLUE is being led by PhD student Brendan Sporer. The PI for BLUE is Associate Professor Ryan McBride. The four LTD cavities for BLUE were donated from the 21-cavity Ursa Minor facility at Sandia National Laboratories in Albuquerque, NM – hence the name “BLUE” (Bestowed LTD from the Ursa-minor Experiment). In this image, the bright flash of light comes from plasma generated inside the ten, high-power spark-gap switches around the perimeter of the machine. The blue glow near the bottom of the image is due to this flash of light being transmitted through a dielectric high-voltage cable feedthrough. The first shot on BLUE was taken by Brendan Sporer on November 21, 2019. This cavity is the first of four cavities that will be stacked together to increase the facility’s open-circuit voltage from 200 kV (single cavity) to 800 kV (four cavities). BLUE will be used to drive high-power microwave sources as well as fast z-pinch plasmas for experiments in nuclear fusion and x-ray generation.