DYNAMICS OF A SHOCK WAVE IN LASER-INDUCED
SURFACE AIR BREAKDOWN

A. N. Chumakov, A. M. Petrenko, and
N. A. Bosak

UDC 534.222.2:621.373

The amplitude and the time of arrival of a shock wave 
have been measured experimentally and calculated numerically at different 
distances from the region of the surface air breakdown by the radiation 
of a single-pulse YAG:Nd3+ laser for energy densities of 2.5-570 J / µm2 . 
Good agreement between the experimental and calculated values 
of the shock-wave amplitude beyond the breakdown region has been established. 
A more rapid propagation of the actual shock wave as compared to the 
calculated shock wave has been revealed for low energies of laser 
pulses, whereas a retarded propagation of the actual shock wave as 
compared to the calculated one has been revealed for high energies.

Institute of Molecular and Atomic Physics, National Academy 
of Sciences of Belarus, Minsk, Belarus; email: chumakov@ imaph.bas-net.by. 
Translated from Inzhenerno-Fizicheskii Zhurnal, Vol. 75, No. 3, pp. 
161-165, May-June, 2002. Original article submitted December 11, 2001.

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