Beijing National Laboratory for Condensed Matter Physics, Institute of Physics,Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100080, China; School of Materials Science and Technology, China University of Geosciences, Beijing 100083, China
Abstract:
The evolution of shock waves produced by 7 ns laser pulses in air is
investigated by time-resolved shadowgraph. A nodular structure of
the shock wave is observed. It is found that the origin of the
structure is the multi-longitudinal-microfocus caused by the
astigmatism of the laser beam. The spherical shock waves formed by
each microfocus expand gradually and collide with each other,
resulting in the nodular structure of the shock wave.