Spectroscopic study of combustion-driven implosions

Time and spatially resolved studies have been made of imploding shock waves in a 20 cm hemispherical chamber filled with 2H2+O2 mixtures at high initial pressures (7–56 atm). Implosion pulse durations and maximum temperatures were found to be (10–4) μsec and (4500–6000) K, respectively. Peak pressure for a 7 atm initial pressure experiment was estimated to be (12.5±1.0) ×103 atm. The focus of the imploding shock was examined by using an image converter camera in both streak and framing modes. No major instabilities or symmetry defects were noted. The results may be of interest for laser fusion applications.