Multi-Megabar pressure and super-dense materials created byinduced micro-explosion inside of transparent solid

High pressure and temperature have been produced using a single laser pulse (100 nJ, 800 nm, 200 fs) focused inside transparent dielectrics [1,2]. The laser pulse converts a material within the volume of $\sim $ 0.15 $\mu $m$^{3}$ into plasma in a few fs time. A pressure of $\sim $10 TPa builds up generating strong shock and rarefaction waves and creating a nano-void surrounded by shell of compressed material. Analysis of the size of the void and the shell as a function of laser energy revealed that shell has a density 1.14 times of sapphire. High-density sapphire completely dissolves in 10{\%} solution of hydrofluoric acid while pristine sapphire remains intact. The unique conditions created-- pressure of 10 TPa, temperature of 5x10$^{5}$K, record high heating and cooling rates of 10$^{18}$ Kelvin/s open an exciting research field for studying matter at extreme in well-controlled laboratory environment. \newline [1] S. Joudkazis et al, PRL, 96,166101 (2006).. E. Gamaly et al PRB, \textbf{73}, 214101 (2006).