Applications of impulsive stimulated scattering in the Earth and planetary sciences.

The elastic, thermodynamic, and transport properties of crystals and fluids at high temperature and pressure play a central role in the earth and planetary sciences as well as in a variety of technologies. These properties also constitute a principal experimental constraint on the description of intermolecular interactions at short distances. Aspects of "impulsive stimulated scattering," when adapted to measurements in the diamond-anvil high-pressure cell, provide an approach to the determination of a subset of equilibrium and dynamic properties at high density.