Letter abstract
Nature Physics
Published online: 19 October 2008 | doi:10.1038/nphys1103
Probing warm dense lithium by inelastic X-ray scattering
E. García Saiz1, G. Gregori2,3, D. O. Gericke4, J. Vorberger4, B. Barbrel5, R. J. Clarke3, R. R. Freeman6, S. H. Glenzer7, F. Y. Khattak8, M. Koenig5, O. L. Landen7, D. Neely3, P. Neumayer7, M. M. Notley3, A. Pelka9, D. Price7, M. Roth9, M. Schollmeier9, C. Spindloe3, R. L. Weber6, L. van Woerkom6, K. Wünsch4 & D. Riley1
One of the grand challenges of contemporary physics is understanding strongly interacting quantum systems comprising such diverse examples as ultracold atoms in traps, electrons in high-temperature superconductors and nuclear matter1. Warm dense matter, defined by temperatures of a few electron volts and densities comparable with solids, is a complex state of such interacting matter2. Moreover, the study of warm dense matter states has practical applications for controlled thermonuclear fusion, where it is encountered during the implosion phase3, and it also represents laboratory analogues of astrophysical environments found in the core of planets and the crusts of old stars4, 5. Here we demonstrate how warm dense matter states can be diagnosed and structural properties can be obtained by inelastic X-ray scattering measurements on a compressed lithium sample. Combining experiments and ab initio simulations enables us to determine its microscopic state and to evaluate more approximate theoretical models for the ionic structure.
- School of Mathematics and Physics, Queen's University of Belfast, Belfast BT7 1NN, UK
- Clarendon Laboratory, University of Oxford, Parks Road, Oxford OX1 3PU, UK
- Central Laser Facility, Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, Chilton, Didcot, OX11 0QX, UK
- Centre for Fusion, Space and Astrophysics, Department of Physics, University of Warwick, Coventry CV4 7AL, UK
- Laboratoire pour l'Utilisation des Laser Intenses, Ecole Polytechnique - Université Paris VI, 91128 Palaiseau, France
- Department of Physics, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio 43210, USA
- Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, PO Box 808, Livermore, California 94551, USA
- Department of Physics, Kohat University of Science and Technology, Kohat-26000, NWFP, Pakistan
-
Institut für Kernphysik, Technische Universität Darmstadt, Schlo
gartenstr. 9, 64289 Darmstadt, Germany
Correspondence to: G. Gregori2,3 e-mail: g.gregori1@physics.ox.ac.uk
