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 1 eV with in times shorter than the desintegration time of these samples. Hot matter below solid state density can be investigated using the expanding sample, w hereas densities above solid state density are produced by shock wave compr ession in compound targets. Measurements of sample expansion and pressure as well as corresponding simu lations 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.