Pressure present during metallization of xenon

Enormous pressure intensification occurs due to plastic deformation of thin films between anvils. In the present paper, simple plasticity theory is used to illustrate this; it leads to excellent agreement with experiments. The results of this analysis are then used to show that the pressure present in solid xenon when it exhibited electrical conductivity was much greater than given by Nelson and Ruoff [Phys. Rev. Lett. 42, 383 (1979)]. This pressure was, so far as the evidence of the present analysis shows, above 1 Mbar.