Intense Heavy Ion Beams as a Tool to Produce and Analyze Dense Plasmas

The synchrotron SIS at GSI presently offers the possibility to heat samples of matter at solid state density to temperatures between 0.2 and 1eV within times shorter than the desintegration time of these samples. Hot matter below solid state density can be investigated using the expanding sample, whereas densities above solid state density are produced by shock wave compression in compound targets. measurements of sample expansion and pressure as well as corresponding simulations are presented. future experimental schemes are discussed including the use of the ion beam as a diagnostic tool for dense plasma, relating its energy loss to the sample density.