Breakdown of Fermi Degeneracy in the Simplest Liquid Metal

Abstract

We are reporting the observation of the breakdown of electrons’ degeneracy and emergence of classical statistics in the simplest element: metallic deuterium. We have studied the optical reflectance, shock velocity, and temperature of dynamically compressed liquid deuterium up to its Fermi temperature $T_F$. Above the insulator-metal transition, the optical reflectance shows the distinctive temperature-independent resistivity saturation, which is prescribed by Mott’s minimum metallic limit, in agreement with previous experiments. At $T>0.4T_F$, however, the reflectance of metallic deuterium starts to rise with a temperature-dependent slope, consistent with the breakdown of the Fermi surface. The experimentally inferred electron-ion collisional time in this region exhibits the characteristic temperature dependence expected for a classical Landau-Spitzer plasma. Our observation of electron degeneracy lifting extends studies of degeneracy to new fermionic species—electron Fermi systems—and offers an invaluable benchmark for quantum statistical models of Coulomb systems over a wide range of temperatures relevant to dense astrophysical objects and ignition physics.