One method of producing a high-temperature dense plasma

This paper considers the interaction between an absolutely rigid wall or a steel plate and the rarefaction wave arising in solid deuterium when a 30–150 GPa shock wave arrives at the free surface. It is shown that, in the entropy trace near the wall or interface with the plate, a high-temperature plasma arises, in which a thermonuclear fusion is possible, at least, for shock-wave pressures above 70 GPa. The dimension of the plasma region and the time of its establishment are proportional to the distance between the free surface and the wall. Estimates of the proportionality coefficients are given. It is noted that, in this case, unlike in other methods of high-temperature plasma generation, the time of existence of the plasma may not depend on the sound velocity in it. It is shown that, by using a conical solid-state target wit an exit hole, the shock-wave pressure in solid deuterium can be increased from 10 to 100 GPa. __________ Translated from Prikladnaya Mekhanika i Tekhnicheskaya Fizika, Vol. 50, No. 3, pp. 15–24, May–June, 2009.