SC 77C

HEMP Radiated Environments

Workshop on High Power

Electromagnetics (HPEM)
CPRI, Bangalore, India
14-18 September 2012

Dr. William Radasky

Chairman, IEC SC 77C
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Outline of Talk

 Source Material
 HEMP
 Definition of the phases of HEMP
 Early-time HEMP
 Intermediate-time HEMP
 Late-time HEMP

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Source Material

 Glasstone, S., P.J. Dolan, "The Effects of Nuclear Weapons,"

U.S. Dept. of Energy, 1977.
 Karzas, W. J. and R. Latter, "Detection of the Electromagnetic
Radiation from Nuclear Explosions in Space," Phys. Rev. No.
137B, 1965, (also AFWL EMP Theoretical Note 40, October
1964).
 Radasky, W. A., “High-altitude EMP (HEMP) Environments
and Effects,” NBC Report, U.S. Army Nuclear and Chemical
Agency, Spring/Summer 2002, pp. 24-29.
 HEMP publications by the International Electrotechnical
Commission (IEC) in Geneva, Switzerland: 61000-1-3, 61000-
2-9, 61000-2-10, 61000-2-11, 61000-4-25, 61000-4-32,
61000-6-6.
 “High-power electromagnetic (HPEM) environments - radiated
and conducted,” IEC 61000-2-13, 2005.

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What is EMP and HEMP?

EMP is ElectroMagnetic Pulse generated

from a nuclear detonation
This is a generic term which covers a long list
of different types of EMP
 HEMP, SREMP, Air Burst EMP, SGEMP, Cable
SGEMP, IEMP, DEMP etc.
We will discuss one particular case
 HEMP (High-altitude EMP): bursts above 30 km

A single HEMP burst can illuminate the

Earth’s surface over a circular radius greater
than 1000 km

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HEMP Environment Terminology

E2
E1 E3
INTERMEDIATE-
EARLY-TIME TIME LATE-TIME

4 PROMPT-GAMMA SIGNAL
10
SCATTERED GAMMA SIGNAL

2 NEUTRON GAMMA SIGNAL

10
E(t) (V/m)

0
10
MHD SIGNAL

-2
10

-4
10
-10 -8 -6 -4 -2 0 2 4
10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10
Time (s)
NOTE: E1 and E2-Gamma are incident fields; E2-Neutron and
E3 consider the presence of the ground

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HEMP Waveform Aspects

• The early-time HEMP has most of its frequency content

above 100 kHz and hence propagates along a line of
sight before reflecting off of the Earth’s surface

• The intermediate-time and late-time HEMP are most

important for long-lines near the Earth’s surface due to
the low-frequency content of the HEMP
– Some information is provided here for completeness
• For aircraft systems in-flight, the early-time HEMP is the
most important

• It is possible that for aircraft with trailing wire antennas

that the intermediate-time HEMP may be a factor

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Early-time HEMP (E1)

• Prompt gamma rays are emitted in a short (tens of ns)

time and travel outward at the speed of light

• Between 20 - 40 km altitude, the gamma rays scatter

through the Compton process, leaving the scattered
electron distribution traveling in a forward direction at a
velocity near the speed of light

• These electrons are turned in the geomagnetic field,

producing currents transverse to the motion of the of
gamma rays

• These coherent currents produces a strong

electromagnetic wave that propagates outward spherically
from a point located at the burst

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Prompt Gamma HEMP Physics (E1)

γ’s v=c B

H~40 km
E(t) e- Source Region

H~20 km

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Development of the High-Frequency

Approximation
 Karzas, Latter and Longmire from 1963-1965 determined that
the variations of the currents and fields in the HEMP source
region were much stronger with time and range than with the
transverse angle
 Maxwell’s equations were evaluated with the high-frequency
approximation in retarded time, resulting in a 1-D set of equations

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Full High-Frequency HEMP

Equations

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IEC 61000-2-9 E1 HEMP Waveform

 The normalized shape
of the early-time
HEMP waveform is a
double exponential

E1 (t) = E 01k1 (e"a1 t " e b1 t )

E01 = 50kV / m; k01=1.3
a1 = 4 • 107 s !1; b1 = 6 • 108 s !1

Trise = 2.5 ns; Tpw = 23 ns;

80% of energy between 1 and 10 MHz

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Validation of E1 HEMP Theory

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Development of the High-Frequency

Approximation
 Karzas, Latter and Longmire studied the coherence effect present in the
measured geomagnetic signals and determined that the changes of the
currents and the fields were much stronger with range and time than with
transverse angle
 Maxwell’s equations were evaluated in spherical coordinates with the high-
frequency approximation in retarded time

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HAPS/HEMP Validation-1
 A direct 2-D vs. 1-D comparison was performed for
the geometry shown

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HAPS/HEMP Validation-2

Ref: EMP TN-125, November 1971

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HAPS/HEMP Validation-3

Ref: EMP TN-125, November 1971

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Scattered Gamma HEMP (E2)

 Prompt gammas scatter during the initial production of Compton

electrons
 Produced at altitudes between 40 and 20 km
 Gamma scattering is mainly forward
 Time history of scattered gammas is much wider
(~50 µs) than the prompt gammas (10’s of ns) due to longer
path lengths

 Scattered gammas produce Compton electrons which are turned

by the geomagnetic field

 The radiated HEMP field is lower in magnitude but wider in time

(~100 µs) than the prompt gamma HEMP signal

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Neutron-Inelastic Gamma HEMP (E2)

 Dominant effect between 1 - 10 milliseconds

 High energy neutrons (>6 MeV) scatter inelastically at 30 - 40 km

altitude, producing gamma rays

 Some of these gammas penetrate to 10 - 15 km altitude,

producing Compton currents that generate strong local vertical
electric fields

 This causes replacement currents to flow in the ground and

atmosphere (>40 km still conducting from prompt gamma
ionization)

 Since ground is imperfectly conducting, there is a horizontal

electric field associated with the ground current

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Neutron Inelastic Gamma HEMP

Physics (E2)

γ replacement electrons
(-) (+)

+ +
+ e
- - -

(+) replacement electrons (-)

Figure prepared by Dr. James Gilbert.

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Late-time (MHD-EMP) HEMP (E3)

 Long duration EM fields generated by motion of debris and

ionized air
 1 to several hundred seconds

 Long time scale enables fields to couple well to long lines

and to diffuse through cable shields

 MHD EMP consists of two distinct phases

 Blast wave-from ionized bubble pushing the
geomagnetic field outward
 Heave-heated air rises and creates a magnetic field due
to the dynamo effect

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IEC HEMP Waveforms (E1, E2, and E3)

Ref: IEC 61000-2-9

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Thank you for your attention.

Any questions?