High-pressured solid atomic hydrogen with photodissociation

Abstract

A novel method to realize solid metallic hydrogen is proposed as a new path to high energy density states of hydrogen. High-pressured atomic hydrogen could be metalized at a density of 0.1 g/cm 3 below 1000 K, which is much less than the previously expected in the solid molecular hydrogen(about 1.43 g/cm 3 at 300 K). This density will be obtained at pressures of less than 100 GPa with a conventional static compression technique. Atomic hydrogen at this density could be created from molecular hydrogen using three-photon absorption of a 250 nm short pulse laser light to cause photodissociation. Calculations taking into account the wavefunction of the molecular hydrogen are presented.