Multimessenger measurements of the static structure of shock-compressed liquid silicon at 100 GPa

The ionic structure of high-pressure, high-temperature fluids is a challenging theoretical problem with applications to planetary interiors and fusion capsules. Here we report a multimessenger platform using velocimetry and angularly and spectrally resolved x-ray scattering to measure the thermodynamic conditions and ion structure factor of materials at extreme pressures. We document the pressure, density, and temperature of shocked silicon near <a:math xmlns:a="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"><a:mrow><a:mn>100</a:mn><a:mspace width="0.16em"/><a:mi>GPa</a:mi></a:mrow></a:math> with uncertainties of 6%, 2%, and 20%, respectively. The measurements are sufficient to distinguish between and rule out some ion screening models. Published by the American Physical Society 2024