Abstract: Developing an equation of state platform for studying materials at multi
TPa pressures on two-stage light gas guns
Experimental access to multi‑terapascal (TPa) pressures is essential for
validating models of material behavior that underpin our understanding of giant‑planet
interiors and the performance of inertial‑fusion implosions. However, such
conditions can only readily be accessed at the largest high‑energy‑density
facilities, which are highly oversubscribed and costly to operate, limiting the
rate of research progress. In this talk, I will describe an experimental
platform that has been developed on a two‑stage light‑gas gun and is capable of
probing Hugoniot states of matter at multi‑TPa pressures and ramp‑compressing
materials to several hundred gigapascals. I will present shock‑compression data
on quartz that extend previous Z‑machine Hugoniot measurements by approximately
a factor of two in pressure and directly overlap the regime accessed by the
National Ignition Facility, enabling cross‑platform evaluation of quartz
behavior for the first time. More broadly, this approach provides a practical
and significantly cheaper path to routine multi‑TPa validation experiments that
are central to high‑energy‑density physics research