Direct observation of strong coupling in a dense plasma.
We present differential x-ray scattering cross sections for a radiatively heated plasma showing overall consistency, in both form and absolute value, with theoretical simulations. In particular, the evolution of the plasma from a strongly coupled high density phase to a lower density weakly coupled phase is quite clearly shown in both experiment and simulation. The success of this experiment shows that x-ray scattering has the potential to become an extremely useful diagnostic technique for dense plasma physics.
Riley
D
D
School of Mathematics and Physics, The Queen's University of Belfast, University Road, United Kingdom. d.riley@qub.ac.uk
Weaver
I
I
McSherry
D
D
Dunne
M
M
Neely
D
D
Notley
M
M
Nardi
E
E