Laser-Supported Detonation Waves in Metal Target Vapor

A physical model for laser metal-vapor interactions has been developed and used to study numerically the laser supported detonation waves (LSDWs) in vapor in front of metal targets, and some good results about LSDWs, such as ignition mechanism, threshold, propagation law and so on, have been obtained numerically with the model. A power law between LSDWs threshold and laser pulse duration, Ith-1/2, has been obtained. Some useful results about the LSDWs shield effects have also been obtained. In the developing phase of LSDWs, the optical thickness of the front of LSDWs may reach 5~10 in order of magnitude. It is shown that the LSDWs are able to play a very strong shield role.