Energy transfer from a laser pulse to a blast wave in reduced-pressure air atmospheres

Abstract

Focusing a transversely excited atmospheric CO2 laser beam in air atmospheres induced a blast wave. The kinetic energy of a laser-induced blast wave was determined from shadowgraph images of shock wave expansion. Results showed that the fraction of input laser energy that is converted into the blast wave energy decreased from 0.45 to 0.2 concomitant with the decrease in ambient pressure from 100 to 10 kPa. Also, it was insensitive to input laser energy from 4 to 13 J.