Inelastic X-Ray Scattering from Shocked Liquid Deuterium

The Fermi-degenerate plasma conditions created in liquid deuterium by a laser-ablation---driven shock wave were probed with noncollective, spectrally resolved, inelastic x-ray Thomson scattering employing Cl Ly_α line emission at 2.96 keV. These first x-ray Thomson scattering measurements of the microscopic properties of shocked deuterium show an inferred spatially averaged electron temperature of 8±5 eV, an electron density of 2.2(±0.5)×10²³ cm^-3, and an ionization of 0.8 (-0.25, $+0.15$). Two-dimensional hydrodynamic simulations using equation-of-state models suited for the extreme parameters occurring in inertial confinement fusion research and planetary interiors are consistent with the experimental results.