Ionization of molecules at the fluid–fluid phase transition in warm dense hydrogen

Abstract

The problem of the fluid–fluid phase transition in warm dense hydrogen/deuterium has been studied experimentally and theoretically in the best laboratories in the last decade. However, the nature of the phase transition remains unclarified. In this paper we put forward the new idea that H₂ molecules are ionized at the phase transition to produce molecular H₂⁺ and H₃⁺ ions