Reflectivity of a shock front in water and nitromethane

Abstract

The reflectivity of a 5.8 kbar shock front in water is compared to the reflectivity of a 6.0 kbar shock front in liquid nitromethane and to theoretical predictions containing secondary reflection. While agreement between theory and experiment is good for 70° optical angle of incidence, it is not good for 82°. There is also an unexplained systematic difference between the water and nitromethane data which increases as the optical angle of incidence grows to 82°.