Electrical and optical measurements on fused quartz under shock compression

The resistivities of specimens of SiO_2 (fused quartz) singly and doubly shocked in the 10 to 45 and 27 to 90 GPa range, respectively, demonstrate a marked decrease from values of ∼10Ω⋅m to ∼0.1Ω⋅m at single shock pressure of ∼40 and double shock pressure of ∼74 GPa. The shock‐induced polarizatio profiles also show a sudden change of electrical properties of the material at those pressures. The rapid decrease in resistivity suggests a further transformation to an unknown phase or production of an electron bound level.