Quasi-Isentropic Compression of a Nonideal Plasma of Deuterium and its Mixture with Helium at Pressures up to 250 GPa

We present data on the quasi-isentropic compressibility of a strongly coupled (nonideal) plasma of a deuterium–helium mixture in the range of pressures 150–250 GPa in devices with a cylindrical geometry and a new result obtained in an experiment with “pure” deuterium at a pressure ~200 GPa. The trajectory of the plasma-compressing metallic shells was recorded using powerful pulsed X-ray sources with a boundary electron energy up to 60 MeV. The densities of the plasma of deuterium and its mixture with helium were determined from the measured radii of the shells at the instant of their “stopping.” We derived the pressure of the compressed plasma based on gasdynamic computations including the real characteristics of the experimental devices. The data obtained confirm the conclusion previously reached at VNIIEF about a phase transition in the plasma of compressed deuterium in the range of pressures 150–160 GPa and suggest that this phase transition is retained in the mixture of deuterium with helium.