Study of high Mach number laser driven blast waves

The study of blast waves produced by intense lasers in gases is motivated by the desire to explore astrophysically relevant hydrodynamic phenomena in the laboratory. A systematic scan of laser produced blast waves was performed and the structure of blast waves was examined over a wide range of drive laser energy. Lasers with energies ranging from 10–1000 J illuminated a pin target in either xenon or nitrogen gas, creating a spherical blast wave. A strongly radiating blast wave in xenon gas is observed while blast waves in nitrogen more closely approximate a pure Taylor–Sedov wave. It is also found that at all laser energies, blast waves traveling through xenon gas had their hydrodynamic evolution significantly affected by the passage of illumination laser. © 2004 American Institute of Physics. [DOI: 10.1063/1.1773553]