The compression of a cryogenic hydrogen cylindrical sample contained in a hollow gold target driven by an intense co-axial uranium beam has been studied. The ion distribution is assumed to be Gaussian in space and parabolic in time. The hydrodynamics of the target is analyzed by means of one- and two-dimensional numerical simulations. A parametric study is performed to achieve the maximum average hydrogen density and temperature as a function of the sample radius, total number of ions and spread of the spatial ion distribution. A window in the beam-target parameters for which hydrogen compression is higher than a factor of 10 and temperature is below 0.2 eV has been found by considering a single bunch that contains 2 × 1011 uranium ions delivered in 100 ns. In this range of high densities and low temperatures, it is expected that hydrogen may become metallic.

Numerical analysis of the compression of a cylindrical cryogenic hydrogen sample surrounded by a high-density metallic shell driven by a heavy ion beam has been performed. The beam power profile is assumed to be parabolic in time and Gaussian in space and is made of uranium ions with a kinetic energy of 2.7 GeV/u. The beam center is positioned off axis and rotates around the target axis to provide a uniform annular energy deposition area. An acceptable symmetry in pressure is achieved if the number of revolutions is equal to or larger than 10. The maximum density and pressure of the hydrogen sample is studied as a function of the spread of the beam power Gaussian distribution and the rotation radius. This configuration leads to compressions of the order of 10 and a temperature of a few thousand Kelvin in hydrogen.

We have developed an analytical model for the implosion of a heavy ion beam driven multilayered cylindrical target. The target consists of a thick metallic shell, typically made of lead which is filled with a low density material, for example frozen hydrogen, and it is axially irradiated with a heavy ion beam with an annular focal spot. The model describes the expansion of the absorption region, the implosion of the pusher, the trajectories of the incident and reflected shocks and the final quasi-isentropic compression. The model is expected to be very helpful to optimize detailed simulations of such problems which are of close relevance to the GSI plasma physics experimental program, planned for the future upgraded accelerator facilities.