Optical properties of highly compressed polystyrene using laser-driven shockwaves

Plastic is a common material used for laboratory astrophysics and inertial confinement fusion. Experimental measurements of the optical properties of shock compressed polystyrene in the strongly coupled and correlated regime (0.7 Mbar <1.7 Mbar; 0.5<1.3 eV) are reported. A VISAR (Velocity Interferometer System for Any Reflector) system was used in addition to self-emission recording on a streak camera. This allowed a simultaneous access to reflectivity, instantaneous shock velocity and temperature. Mean ionization and conductivity of the material have then been deduced through the Drude model. The values found are more than an order of magnitude greater than published ones in this temperature domain. (C) 2003 American Institute of Physics.