Evidence for Dissociation and Ionization in Shock Compressed Nitrogen to 800 GPa

Triple bonding in the nitrogen molecule (N2) is among the strongest chemical bonds with a dissociation enthalpy of 9.8 eV/molecule. Nitrogen is therefore an excellent test bed for theoretical and numerical methods aimed at understanding how bonding evolves under the influence of the extreme pressures and temperatures of the warm dense matter regime. Here, we report laser-driven shock experiments on fluid molecular nitrogen up to 800 GPa and 4.0 g/cm3. Line-imaging velocimetry measurements and impedance matching method with a quartz reference yield shock equation of state data of initially precompressed nitrogen. Comparison with numerical simulations using path integral Monte Carlo and density functional theory molecular dynamics reveals clear signatures of chemical dissociation and the onset of L-shell ionization. Combining data along multiple shock Hugoniot curves starting from densities between 0.76 and 1.29 g/cm3, our study documents how pressure and density affect these changes in chemical bonding and provides benchmarks for future theoretical developments in this regime, with applications for planetary interior modeling, high energy density science, and inertial confinement fusion research.