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High-pressure physics

Testing one's metal

The search for the metallic state of hydrogen at ever higher static pressures has normally required experiments to be performed at temperatures near 100 K. Now, some 30 years after the first attempts at room-temperature compression, the observation of reflective dense hydrogen promises to bring it in from the cold.

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Figure 1: Photograph of a diamond anvil.

ANNETTE K. KLEPPE, DIAMOND LIGHT SOURCE

Figure 2: Phase diagram of hydrogen.

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Correspondence to Andrew P. Jephcoat.

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Jephcoat, A. Testing one's metal. Nature Mater 10, 904–905 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1038/nmat3189

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