The Anomalous Compressibility and Metallization of Deuterium under Shock-Wave Compression

TL;DR

This paper explains the anomalous compressibility and metallization of deuterium under shock-wave compression through a dissociative phase transition from molecular to atomic liquid-metal phase, accounting for experimental density variations.

Contribution

The authors introduce and describe the dissociative phase transition as the mechanism behind deuterium's anomalous compressibility and metallization under shock compression.

Findings

Deuterium undergoes a dielectric-metal phase transition under shock compression.

The dissociative phase transition explains the scattering of experimental density measurements.

High compressibility values are linked to this phase transition.

Abstract

High values of deuterium compressibility under shock-wave compression, recently discovered in several experiments, are explained by an unusual dielectric-metal phase transition from a dense molecular gas into a liquid-metal atomic gas. This phase transition recently described by authors was named the dissociative phase transition (DPT). The same phase transition describes a significant scattering of experimentally measured densities within an area of anomalous compressibility.