Abstract

There is reason to believe that compressional shocks exceeding tens of kilobars drive some forms of condensed matter into nonequilibrium conditions not found in other environments, different, for example, from that encountered in statically compressed materials at the same ambient temperature and pressure. In some molecular systems shocks appear to produce anomalous electrical and optical properties¹ and a unique form of nonthermal chemistry.^2-4 Consequently, there has recently been a growing interest in the use of lasers as in situ, time-resolved probes of intramolecular energy transfer processes and subsequent chemistry occurring in condensed media under shock loading.

© 1984 Optical Society of America