"artificial" metallic hydrogen using UV?

[east...@yahoo.com]

Hi,

Can one convert an insulating material into a conductor by promoting
valence band electrons into a conduction band using an intense beam of
ultra-violet radiation?

I was wondering if one could make "metallic hydrogen" by irradiating
it with an intense beam of UV photons with the requisite band-gap
energy of 15eV rather than by the conventional method of subjecting
the sample to a huge pressure.

John