Two-dimensional numerical simulations of a shell-shielded target driven by an intense co-axial heavy ion beam

The study of matter under pressures of several Mbar and compressed to several times solid density is of great interest to different interdisciplinary sciences. Many studies have been performed in relation to astrophysics phenomena and high-energy-density mater studies. As early as 1935 it was theoretically predicted that hydrogen at a pressure of 0.25 Mbar should experience a phase transition from an insulator to a metallic state. Modern estimates suggest that this phase transition should occur at a density around 1 g/cm, temperatures below a few thousand Kelvin and at pressures of the order of a few Mbar.