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The article reviews the design and physical applications of high‐explosive generators for dense low‐temperature plasma. The PUMA proton microscope with magnetic optics at the Institute for Theoretical and Experimental Physics by A.I. Alikhanov of National Research Centre «Kurchatov Institute» (Moscow, Russia) was used to diagnose the plasma. The generators were developed for measurements of the equation of state of non‐ideal plasma, investigation of phase transitions in hydrogen or molecular gases, and studies of the properties of the interior of Giant planets. A proposal was made to repeat the experiments with explosive generators using the proton microscope PRIOR (Proton Microscope for Facility for Anti‐proton and Ion Research) at the GSI Helmholtzzentrum fur Schwerionenforschung (Darmstadt, Germany) and at the designed proton microscope at the Institute for Nuclear Research (Troitsk, Russia). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recently, a new high energy proton microscopy facility PRIOR (Proton Microscope for FAIR Facility for Anti-proton and Ion Research) has been designed, constructed, and successfully commissioned at GSI Helmholtzzentrum fur Schwerionenforschung (Darmstadt, Germany). As a result of the experiments with 3.5-4.5 GeV proton beams delivered by the heavy ion synchrotron SIS-18 of GSI, 30 μm spatial and 10 ns temporal resolutions of the proton microscope have been demonstrated. A new pulsed power setup for studying properties of matter under extremes has been developed for the dynamic commissioning of the PRIOR facility. This paper describes the PRIOR setup as well as the results of the first static and dynamic proton radiography experiments performed at GSI. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]