Shock wave generation using a high power millimeter wave beam

Oda, Yasuhisa; Kajiwara, Ken; Takahashi, Koji; Kasugai, Atsushi; Sakamoto, Keishi; Komurasaki, Kimiya*

The shock wave driven by a high power millimeter wave beam was observed. First, a shock wave formed in a tube was observed using pressure gauges. The pressure at the tube end had dependency on relation of propagation velocities of the ionization front and the shock wave. When the ionization front propagates subsonic, the shock wave propagated faster than the ionization front and pressure at the tube end was increased with the shock wave velocity. When the ionization front propagated in supersonic, both velocities were identical and pressure was 200 kPa and independent to the shock wave velocity. The driving model of a shock wave based on combination of a normal shock wave and a heating region was proposed. The model calculation showed good agreement to the experimental result.