Resistivity saturation in warm dense matter

Electrical resistivity is shown to saturate in solid-density aluminum in the warm dense matter regime. Calculations are done using the average-atom model SCAALP and the finite-temperature Ziman-Evans formula for electrical resistivity. The mean free path is estimated using the Drude law. This mean free path is shown to present a minimum of the order of the interatomic spacing.

Figure 1

Electrical resistivity as a function of temperature in solid-density aluminum. The SCAALP calculations are compared to the ones performed by Yuan et al. [10], Perrot and Dharma-wardana [20], and Pain and Dejonghe [19].

Figure 2

Mean free path divided by the Wigner-Seitz radius as a function of temperature in solid-density aluminum.

Figure 3

Absorption and reflection of light at 800 nm as a function of temperature in solid-density aluminum.