Lasers, shock physics, explosives, oh my!

High-power, pulsed laser systems can be utilized as both a hammer and probe in understanding how energetic materials (i.e., explosives, propellants, pyrotechnics) behave and react under extreme heating rates and high instantaneous pressures. In this presentation we will survey DEVCOM Army Research Laboratory's recent small-scale energetic characterization efforts which primarily involve focused, nanosecond pulsed lasers as initiation sources or drivers of extreme shock phenomena. This high-level overview will give a broad summary of energetic materials and shock physics basics while highlighting multiple use cases of lasers as an experimental tool including techniques such as the laser-induced air shock for energetic materials (LASEM) method, laser-driven flyer plate (LDFP) experiments, laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS), novel laser-induced shock mixing approaches, laser ignited pressure cell experiments, and others. Comparisons between computational models and these small-scale energetic experiments will be provided, when able. A brief overview of DEVCOM Army Research Laboratory and life in civilian government service will be discussed.