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World’s strongest laser enables pressure-driven ionization

The degree of ionization inside giant planets and stars determines their material properties. In burning stars, ionization is controlled by temperature, whereas pressure-driven ionization is dominant in cooler objects. Experiments creating the extreme conditions needed for pressure-driven ionization in the laboratory shed light on this complex process.

This is a summary of: Döppner, T. et al. Observing the onset of pressure-driven K-shell delocalization. Nature https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-023-05996-8 (2023).

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doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-023-01363-9

‘Expert opinion’ is published under a CC BY 4.0 licence.

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