First-principles calculations of shocked fluid helium in partially ionized region

TL;DR

This study uses quantum molecular dynamics to calculate the equation of state of shocked fluid helium, incorporating ionization effects, and finds good agreement with experimental data, reaching a maximum compression ratio of 5.16 at 106 GPa.

Contribution

It introduces first-principles simulations that include atomic ionization corrections to accurately model shocked fluid helium's EOS.

Findings

Maximum compression ratio of 5.16 at 106 GPa

Good agreement with experimental shock data

Ionization corrections improve EOS accuracy

Abstract

Quantum molecular dynamic simulations have been employed to study the equation of state (EOS) of fluid helium under shock compressions. The principal Hugoniot is determined from EOS, where corrections from atomic ionization are added onto the calculated data. Our simulation results indicate that principal Hugoniot shows good agreement with gas gun and laser driven experiments, and maximum compression ratio of 5.16 is reached at 106 GPa.