At the heart of the planets thanks to intense lasers

Understanding the internal structure of planets is key to explaining how they form and evolve. However, the experimental data are insufficient and the theoretical models incomplete. Laboratory astrophysics seeks to reproduce the extreme thermodynamic conditions of matter in the hearts of planets, at pressures of several million bars and temperatures of several thousand degrees. At the Laboratory for the Use of Intense Lasers (École Polytechnique, Palaiseau), researcher Alessandra Ravasio focuses very energetic lasers on the materials studied to subject them to intense shock waves, in order to analyze their properties in similar states. to those encountered in the planetary interiors.