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This paper considers the interaction between an absolutely rigid wall or a steel plate and the rarefaction wave arising in solid deuterium when a 30–150 GPa shock wave arrives at the free surface. It is shown that, in the entropy trace near the wall or interface with the plate, a high-temperature plasma arises, in which a thermonuclear fusion is possible, at least, for shock-wave pressures above 70 GPa. The dimension of the plasma region and the time of its establishment are proportional to the distance between the free surface and the wall. Estimates of the proportionality coefficients are given. It is noted that, in this case, unlike in other methods of high-temperature plasma generation, the time of existence of the plasma may not depend on the sound velocity in it. It is shown that, by using a conical solid-state target wit an exit hole, the shock-wave pressure in solid deuterium can be increased from 10 to 100 GPa.

In this work release isentropes of shocked porous molybdenum were investigated. Samples with an initial porosity m = ρ0/ρ = 1.4 and 3.1 were studied to achieve near-critical entropy states of metal after shock compression. Compressed samples were expanded into helium with different initial pressures. The brightness temperature of the metal and the helium shock wave velocity were measured with a fast multichannel pyrometer. The helium shock wave velocity was used to determine the final pressure (P S) of expansion of the metal and the velocity of metal expansion (W S). Location of peculiarities on the P S–W S and P S–T P curves of the isentropes gives the location of their entrance into the two-phase region. Estimation of the molybdenum critical temperature and pressure was carried out on the basis of the experimental data.

Results of experiments on the expansion of shock-compressed nickel samples into helium are presented. An isentrope with an initial pressure of 170 GPa was studied. The radiance temperature of the nickel sample and the velocity of the shock wave, generated in helium, were measured by a fast multichannel optical pyrometer; other parameters, such as the particle velocity, the pressure on the He-Ni interface, and the temperature of He were calculated using He Hugoniot (chemical plasma model). To increase the shock entropy up to a near-critical value and to intensify the process of heat-mass transfer, porous samples were used. Final states with pressures below 1.5 GPa, determined by the initial He pressure, were generated. The isobaric overheat of nickel by hot shocked helium provided an information about the nickel liquid spinodal. The change in slope of an isentrope in the pressure-particle velocity plane allowed an estimate of the point of its entrance in the two-phase region. Estimates of the critical temperature and pressure were made from peculiarities of P-T path, using various models of the nickel liquid spinodal to represent experimental data.