Lithium at high dynamic pressure

Experimental investigation of lithium compressed by multiple shock waves up to a pressure 210 GPa demonstrates an abnormal dependence on electric resistivity. As against normal behaviour of a metal, the resistivity monotonically increases in the pressure range 30–150 GPa from typical metallic values at ambient conditions by more than 15 times, returning to metallic values at pressures higher then 160–210 GPa. The obtained results demonstrate the anomalous resistivity of lithium both in solid and liquid states. This effect is explained by theoretical calculations done with the use of the linear muffin-tin orbital method.