Laser generated stress waves: Their characteristics and their effects to materials

Abstract

When the energy from a powerful pulsed laser is trained on the surface of an absorbent material, a high‐amplitude stress wave is generated. If the surface is covered with a material which is transparent to the incident laser light, peak pressure environments are significantly enhanced compared to free surface conditions. Experimental pressure measurements using piezoelectric pressure transducers have demonstrated that peak pressures up to approximately 10 GPa can be generated in this manner. The rise time of these pressure waves, which is controlled by the temperature of the laser heated absorbent material, approximates the shape of the incident laser pulse. The decay time of the pressure waves is slower than the laser pulse because it is governed by the rate at which work is done on surrounding materials and the rate at which heat is conducted out of the heated vapor into colder adjacent materials. Theoretical calculations of the pressure environments using a one‐dimensional radiation hydrodynamic comput...