Electrical conductivity of nonideal hydrogen plasma at megabar dynamic pressures

Abstract

The electrical conductivity of a nonideal hydrogen plasma is measured under shock-wave compression to pressures ∼1.5 Mbar. It is found that the conductivity increases sharply (by five orders of magnitude) at a density ρ∼0.3−0.4 g/cm3, reaching close to liquid-metal values ∼103 S/cm. The data obtained can be described by a nonideal-plasma model taking into account the increase in the number of conduction electrons as a result of “ionization by pressure.”