Laser Focus on Planets

A new laboratory exploration of the deep interior states and processes for solar and extrasolar planets is underway. KiloJoule to MegaJoule laser compression data and first principles calculations combined with recent observational planet discoveries provide fresh perspectives for the qualities and implications of these massive objects throughout the universe. Recent experimental results for silicates and water reveal dramatic chemical changes emerge at millions of atmosphere pressure and several thousand Kelvin, giving rise to polymeric silicates and superionic water. New equation of state data for iron to tens of millions of atmospheres provides insight into the deep interior core conditions for extrasolar terrestrial planets. At still higher pressures, approaching atomic pressures (294 Mbar = 29.4 TPa) atoms can be brought together closer than a deBroglie wavelength and even in some cases the Bohr radius where core as well as valence electrons (keV as well as eV energy levels) engage in bonding and where a new quantum behavior emerges.