Methods for the production and detection of shock waves are reviewed with particular emphasis on the production of shock waves by exploding wires and by the absorption of energy from a pulsed laser system. An exploding wire system is described for the generation of shockwaves in perspex plates. Observation is made using the stress induced bi-refrigence, and 'time integrated' photographs of shock waves are produced. At lower energies the exploding wire produces a mixture of wire vapour and molten droplets. The disintegration of the droplets is shown and described in terms of the mechanism shown by Lane and Edwards<sup>(104)</sup> to operate forwater droplets. A modified Kerr cell shutter with an unsymmetric electrode geometry is described with reference to possible use as a fast light shutter for measuring shock wave velocities. A development of this shutter has one of the electrodes in the Kerr cell consisting of a stack of razor blades. Light which has been diffracted from an electrostrictively induced phase grating near the blade edges, has been detected. A number of mechanisms are described which take effect within the modified cell. A system for the production and detection of shock waves by a Q-switched ruby laser is described. Shock waves are produced in liquids both by electrical breakdown and by evaporation of the surface material from a metal target. Experimental results show the production of shock waves with velocities up to 10<sup>4</sup> m/s in water. The ablation wave produced when the surface of a metal wire is evaporated by a laser has been photographed. This shock wave accelerates as it moves towards the centre of the wire. Finally, the process of stimulated Brillouin scattering is described as the pulsed laser is focused into a liquid.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:704240 |
| Date | January 1973 |
| Creators | Hedley, Charles John Wykeham |
| Publisher | Royal Holloway, University of London |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Source | http://repository.royalholloway.ac.uk/items/b7be8ef2-7e7f-43e6-96cb-f97c5ebf0375/1/ |
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