Shock-Induced Transformation of Liquid Deuterium into a Metallic Fluid

Abstract

Simultaneous measurements of shock velocity and optical reflectance at 1064, 808, and 404 nm of a high pressure shock front propagating through liquid deuterium show a continuous increase in reflectance from below $10%$ and saturating at $\ensuremath{\sim}(40--60)%$ in the range of shock velocities from 12 to $20\ensuremath{\mu}\mathrm{m}/\mathrm{ns}$ (pressure range 17--50 GPa). The high optical reflectance is evidence that the shocked deuterium reaches a conducting state characteristic of a metallic fluid. Above $20\ensuremath{\mu}\mathrm{m}/\mathrm{ns}$ shock velocity (50 GPa pressure) reflectance is constant indicating that the transformation is substantially complete.