Progress in measurements of the electrical conductivity of metal plasmas

Progress in the exploding wire techniques for the measurements of the electrical conductivity of dense metal plasmas is reviewed. It is demonstrated that the data on the conductivity obtained by means of quite different techniques give results in good agreement. Recent results of direct measurements of the conductivity, internal energy and density of tungsten over a wide density and temperature ranges are presented. It is speculated that the data may lead to improvements in the conductivity and EOS databases. (c) 2005 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim