Reflectivity of a 5.8 kbar shock front in water

Theory and experiments are presented for reflection of a laser beam from a 5.8 kbar shock in water for both parallel and perpendicular (to the plane of incidence) optical polarizations. The theory is in closed form and valid in the nonlinear (large optical path length) region. Agreement between theory and experiment is obtained with a shock front thickness less than or equal to 4×10−6 cm.