Electrical conductivity measurement in dense metal plasmas : Comparisons of several metals

Abstract

We measure the electrical conductivity of strongly coupled metal plasmas in the temperature range 8-30 kK, in a density range from about 1/2 solid density down to about 10 -3 times solid density. Plasma density is deduced from streak photography, and temperature deduced from energy input, using the LANL SESAME database. The results are compared with theoretical predictions of several authors. When conductivity is plotted vs. atom density, very little difference is seen between aluminum, iron, nickel, copper and tungsten plasmas.