Indirect evidence for elemental hydrogen in laser-compressed hydrocarbons

Indirect evidence for elemental hydrogen in laser-compressed hydrocarbons

Kraus, D.; Vorberger, J.; Hartley, N. J.; Lütgert, J.; Rödel, M.; Chekrygina, D.; Döppner, T.; van Driel, T.; Falcone, R. W.; Fletcher, L. B.; Frydrych, S.; Galtier, E.; Gericke, D. O.; Glenzer, S. H.; Granados, E.; Inubushi, Y.; Kamimura, N.; Katagiri, K.; Macdonald, M. J.; Mackinnon, A. J.; Matsuoka, T.; Miyanishi, K.; McBride, E. E.; Nam, I.; Neumayer, P.; Ozaki, N.; Pak, A.; Ravasio, A.; Saunders, A. M.; Schuster, A. K.; Stevenson, M. G.; Sueda, K.; Sun, P.; Togashi, T.; Voigt, K.; Yabashi, M.; Yabuuchi, T.

We demonstrate a significantly simplified experimental approach for investigating liquid metallic hydrogen, which is crucial to
understand the internal structure and evolution of giant planets. Plastic samples were shockcompressed and then probed by
short pulses of X-rays generated by free electron lasers. By comparison with ab initio simulations, we provide indirect
evidence for the creation of elemental hydrogen in shock-compressed plastics at ∼150GPa and ∼5,000K and thus in a
regime where hydrogen is predicted to be metallic. Being the most common form of condensed matter in our solar system,
and ostensibly the simplest of all elements, hydrogen is the model case for many theoretical studies and we provide a new
possibility to benchmark models for conditions with extreme pressures and temperatures. Moreover, this approach will also
allow to probe the chemical behavior of metallic hydrogen in mixture with other elements, which, besides its importance for
planetary physics, may open up promising pathways for the synthesis of new materials.

Keywords: hydrogen; metallic hydrogen; warm dense matter; x-ray diffraction; x-ray free electron laser

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