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(alpha) 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) x 10(23) 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. DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.109.265003