An explosively pumped flux compression generator (EPFCG) is a device used to generate a high-power electromagnetic pulse by compressing magnetic flux using high explosive.
An EPFCG can be used only once as a pulsed power supply since the device is physically destroyed during operation. An EPFCG package that could be easily carried by a person can produce pulses in the millions of amperes and tens of terawatts, exceeding the power of a lightning strike by orders of magnitude. They require a starting current pulse to operate, usually supplied by capacitors.
Explosively pumped flux compression generators are popular as power sources for electronic warfare devices known as transient electromagnetic devices that generate an electromagnetic pulse without the costs and side effects of a nuclear weapon. They also can be used to accelerate objects to extreme velocities, and compress objects to very high pressures and densities; this gives them a role as a physics research tool.
The first work on these generators was conducted by the VNIIEF center for nuclear research in Sarov at the beginning of the 1950s followed by Los Alamos National Laboratory in the United States.
Read more about Explosively Pumped Flux Compression Generator: History, Principles of Function, The Various Types of Generators
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