Measurement of the compressibility of a deuterium plasma at a pressure of 1800 GPa

Abstract

The thermodynamic properties of a highly compressed deuterium plasma have been measured using an explosive spherical experimental chamber. The experiment has been performed with an X-ray diffraction complex consisting of three betatrons and a multichannel optoelectronic system of the detection of X-ray images of the process of the explosive spherical compression of deuterium. The density of the shock-compressed deuterium plasma ρ = (4.3 ± 0.7) g/cm3 at the pressure P = 1830 GPa has been detected at the initial pressure of gaseous deuterium P 0 = 267 atm and the temperature T 0 = 10.5°C. Under such conditions, the plasma is strongly nonideal (Γ ∼ 450) with the degenerate (nλ 3 ∼ 280) electron component and with an electron density of about 2.8 × 1023 cm−3.