Research to Produce Pressures of 450 GPa or Higher on Hydrogen and to Produce Metallic Hydrogen

该项目涉及试图静态压缩氢气到450 GPa或更高的压力。氢具有多方面的行为，在分子中表现出共价键，表现为与H2O（水中的HCl）结合的正离子，在碱金属晶体中表现为负离子（大部分），并与已经与其他分子键合的电负性元素具有二级氢键。维格纳和亨廷顿在1935年进行的量子力学计算表明，还有另一种可能性存在，即在非常高的压力下，氢可能是金属。最近的一项预测表明，金属氢可能是一种高温超导体。本项目的目标是通过静态压缩实现氢的金属态。这一目标的实现将解决凝聚态物理学的一个突出问题。它将开辟研究极端压力条件下材料性质的新领域，并将有助于理解被认为是由金属氢组成的巨行星的核心。自20世纪初以来，氢一直是理解物质结构的关键元素。氢具有多方面的行为。它表现出共价键合形成分子，它表现为与水结合的正离子，它大部分作为负离子存在于碱金属晶体中等。1935年进行的量子力学计算表明，还有另一种可能性存在，即在非常高的压力下，氢可能是金属，而最近的预测表明，金属氢甚至可能是高温超导体。本研究的目标是产生足够高的静压，以实现实验可验证的金属氢状态。实现这一目标所需的压力从未在实验室中实现，但据信存在于巨行星的核心。这一目标的实现将开辟研究极端压力条件下材料性质的新领域，并将为理解巨行星核心的性质提供所需的数据。

This project concerns attempts to statically compress hydrogen to pressures of 450 GPa or higher. Hydrogen has multifaceted behavior, exhibiting covalent bonding in the molecule, behaving as a positive ion combined with H2O (HCl in water), as a negative ion (in large part) in crystals of the alkali hydrides, and having secondary hydrogen bonds with electronegative elements already bonded to other molecules. Quantum mechanical calculations performed by Wigner and Huntington in 1935 showed that still another possibilty exists, namely that at very high pressures hydrogen could be metallic. A more recent prediction suggests that metallic hydrogen could be a high temperature superconductor. This goal of this project is to realize the metallic state of hydrogen by static compression. The realization of this goal will solve one of the outstanding problems of condensed matter physics. It will open up new areas of investigation of the properties of materials under extreme conditions of pressure and will assist in the understanding of the cores of the giant planets which are believed to be composed of metallic hydrogen.%%%Since the early 1900s hydrogen has been the key element for the understanding of the structure of matter. Hydrogen has multifaceted behavior. It exhibits covalent bonding to form a molecule, it behaves as a positive ion combined with water, it exists in large part as a negative ion in crystals of the alkali hydrides, etc.. Quantum mechanical calculations performed in 1935 showed that still another possibility exists, namely that at very high pressures hydrogen could be metallic, while a more recent prediction suggests that metallic hydrogen could even be a high temperature superconductor. It is the goal of this research to generate sufficiently high static pressures to bring about an experimentally verifiable state of metallic hydrogen. The pressures necessary to accomplish this have never been achieved in the laboratory but are believed to exist in the cores of the giant planets. The realization of this goal will open up new areas of investigation of the properties of materials under extreme conditions of pressure, and will provide data needed for the understanding of the properties of the cores of the giant planets.***