The boundary effects of the shock wave dispersion in discharges.

Interaction of shock waves with a weakly ionized gas generated by discharges has been studied. An additional thermal mechanism of the shock wave dispersion on the boundary between a neutral gas and discharge has been proposed [A. Markhotok, S. Popovic, and L. Vuskovic, Proceedings of the 15th International Conference on Atomic Processes in Plasmas, March 19–22, 2007 (NIST, Gaitersburg, MD, 2007)]. This mechanism can explain a whole set of thermal features of the shock wave-plasma interaction, including acceleration of the shock wave, broadening or splitting of the deflection signals and its consecutive restoration. Application has been made in the case of a shock wave interacting with a laser induced plasma. The experimental observations support well the results of calculation based on this model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]