Physics · the experiment
Synchronise the four rings
Your laser draws four rings of light on the inky water layer. Fire the largest one alone first, then set the delays so that each ring lights up as the shock passes.
1 · Fire a single ring
Beginner
To strengthen this shock, the team adds three smaller rings. When should each one light up?
Fire the outer ring alone and follow its shock to the centre, on the sample and on the streak camera trace.
2 · Tune the three delays
Intermediate
Between the 169 µm ring and the 134 µm ring, the front takes 11.1 ns. What is its average speed?
The laser spaces its pulses 10 ns apart, as the team planned. Set the three delays so that each ring lights up as the front passes, to within 0.5 ns.
3 · Read the peak at the focus
Fired separately, the four rings reach peak pressures at the focus that add up to only 280 GPa, in the authors' simulations.
Intermediate
And fired in sequence, tuned the way you just did?
Show the peaks from the authors' simulation, with the energy they take.
4 · Add a fifth ring
Expert
The authors describe the peak versus the number of rings with a curve P = a·exp(N/b) + c. What would it say about a fifth tuned ring?
5 · Detune on purpose
Expert
And if you deliberately mistimed the rings, what could you get out of it?
Rings synchronised
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