We report the highest compression reached in laboratory plasmas using eight laser beams, E$_{laser}$$approx$12 kJ, $tau_{laser}$=2 ns in third harmonic on a CD$_2$ target at the ShenGuang-II Upgrade (SGII-Up) facility in Shanghai, China. We estimate the deuterium density $rho_D$= 2.0 $pm$ 0.9 kg/cm$^{3}$, and the average kinetic energy of the plasma ions less than 1 keV. The highest reached areal density $Lambda rho_{D}$=4.8 $pm$ 1.5 g/cm$^{2}$ was obtained from the measured ratio of the sequential ternary fusion reactions (dd$rightarrow$t+p and t+d$rightarrow$$alpha$+n) and the two body reaction fusions (dd$rightarrow$$^3$He+n). At such high densities, sequential ternary and also quaternary nuclear reactions become important as well (i.e. n(14.1 MeV) + $^{12}$C $rightarrow$ n+$^{12}$C* etc.) resulting in a shift of the neutron (and proton) kinetic energies from their birth values. The Down Scatter Ratio (DSR-quaternary nuclear reactions) method, i.e. the ratio of the 10-12MeV neutrons divided by the total number of 14.1MeV neutrons produced, confirms the high densities reported above. The estimated lifetime of the highly compressed plasma is 52 $pm$ 9 ps, much smaller than the lasers pulse duration.
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