Shock-wave propagation through a nonuniform carbon plasma
Abstract
The propagation of a Mach 1.2-2.5 shock wave through the nearly spherical C plasma created when 40-ns 2-J ruby laser pulses strike a 400-micron-diameter spot on a C target in a 28.5 x 28.5-mm shock tube at initial air pressure 5-50 kPa is investigated using schlieren photography and Mach-Zehnder interferometry. Acceleration of the shock wave at the edge of the plasma, stratification of its wavefront, formation of a steep density gradient in the plasma behind the shock, and a decrease in the density jump across the shock are observed. The possibility that the decrease in the intensity of the shock wave is caused by refraction at the contact discontinuity is considered, it is pointed out that the maximum contact-discontinuity temperature ratio measured in the experiment, 3.5, is lower than the 4.5 required for this mechanism.
- Publication:
-
Zhurnal Tekhnicheskoi Fiziki
- Pub Date:
- March 1986
- Bibcode:
- 1986ZhTFi..56..596G
- Keywords:
-
- Laser Plasmas;
- Plasma Waves;
- Shock Waves;
- Wave Propagation;
- Carbon;
- Glow Discharges;
- Mach Number;
- Schlieren Photography;
- Plasma Physics