Studies of materials at extreme states of pressure and density on the NIF and Omega lasers*

A selection of recent studies of materials at extreme states of pressure and density on the National Ignition Facility (NIF) and Omega lasers will be reviewed. We will illustrate measurements of the equation of state (EOS) of materials, phase, temperature, and solid-state plastic flow at high pressures and strain rates. Specific examples include ramp compression EOS of deuterium, carbon, and iron under planetary core conditions using VISAR diagnostics. We will also present examples of phase measurements using time resolved diffraction of water to 4 Mbar and lead to pressures of 20 Mbar. Experiments to measure the temperature of matter at HED systems up to 6 Mbar using the extended x-ray absorption fine structure (EXAFS) diagnostic will be described. Radiography experiments have been done in spherically converging geometry to measure matter at white dwarf envelop conditions. And finally, ramp driven Rayleigh-Taylor experiments have measured the solid-state plastic flow of ductile metals at pressures of 1-8 Mbar on NIF and Omega.