Electric field induced nucleation: An alternative pathway to metallic hydrogen

Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Toledo, Toledo, OH 43606, USA(Dated: March 7, 2011)Electric field induced nucleation is introduced as a possible mechanism to realize a metallic phaseof hydrogen. Analytical expressions are derived for the nucleation probabilities of both thermaland quantum nucleation in terms of material parameters, temperature, and the applied field. Ourresults show that the insulator-metal transition can be driven by an electric field within a reasonabletemperature range and at much lower pressures than the current paradigm of P >∼ 400 GPa. Bothstatic and oscillating fields are considered and practical implementations are discussed.