Chapter 8 of Doomed to Cooperate, on fundamental science collaboration, had room for only two accounts—one Russian, one American—of an extremely productive area of joint work: pulsed-power-based high-energy-density physics. This section tells more of the story. Irvin Lindemuth compiled a list of the publications and presentations produced over 25 years of interaction (1992–2017), which shows the remarkable scope of the collaboration.
From left: V. K. Chernyshev, C. M. Fowler, and A. I. Pavlovskii. Los Alamos, NM, November 1992.
In addition to the chapters by S. F. Garanin and I. R. Lindemuth in the printed book, four papers by VNIIEF authors, listed below, describe both the pulsed-power collaboration and personal stories from it. All four were translated from International Scientific Cooperation of RFNC-VNIIEF: Perspectives, Views, Recollections (Sarov: FGUP “RFNC-VNIIEF,” 2010).
LANL delegation observes preparation for MC-1 generator shot, VNIIEF, June 1992. A. I. Pavlovskii (second from right) points out features. To Pavlovskii’s right are C. M. Fowler and S. M. Younger. Behind Pavlovskii are Reinovsky and Lindemuth. Fowler pushed the button to detonate the generator and received a bottle of vodka as payment (VNIIEF photo).
Irv Lindemuth’s Reminiscences of Russia describe the collaboration’s place in his career, and S. F. Garanin of VNIIEF shared a collection of photographs spanning more than a decade of joint work.
The first joint experiment sits on a VNIIEF explosives firing site prior to the shot, November 1993. The experiment used a VNIIEF helical generator/disk generator/fuse combination to implode a cylindrical liner to high velocity.