Hydrogen is the simplest and most abundant element in the Universe. It is estimated that more than 70% of the planetary mass in our solar system is in the form of dense fluid hydrogen, with Jupiter and Saturn being the largest reservoirs. These planets contain extreme pressure and temperature conditions which are predicted to lead to the formation of metallic fluid hydrogen. The pressure-induced transition from insulator to metal in solid hydrogen was predicted as early as 1935 by Wigner and Huntington, but to date has not been experimentally confirmed. Metallic hydrogen is predicted to have spectacular properties such as room temperature superconductivity and metastability (i.e. it remains metallic when the pressure is released). If metallic hydrogen is found to be metastable, its application could revolutionize rocketry and fusion technology. There are two thermodynamic pathways to metallic hydrogen: direct pressurization at low or modest temperatures to a solid metallic phase, and in the megabar pressure region, heating into the liquid metallic phase. In this talk, I will present my recent work in which the insulator to metal transition in dense liquid hydrogen was observed experimentally for the first time.
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