Shock-Wave Compression of Liquid Deuterium to 0.9 Mbar

Abstract

Liquid-deuterium samples initially at 21°K and 1 atm were shock compressed to pressures of 200 and 900 kbar and temperatures of 4500 and 7000°K, respectively. The 900-kbar points were obtained by reflecting the 200-kbar shock wave from a brass cover. A theoretical model which uses an effective intermolecular pair potential gives reasonable agreement with the data. Using this potential we obtain a lower limit for a metallic phase transition at 1.7 ${\mathrm{cm}}^3$/mole and at 4.2 and 4.8 Mbar for ${\mathrm{H}}_2$ and ${\mathrm{D}}_2$, respectively.