Velocity Measurement of Electromagnetically-driven Shock Wave to Produce a Dissociated Hydrogen Target for Beam Interaction Experiment

Heavy ion fusion sciences and heavy-ion-driven high energy density physics experiments require evaluations of the stopping power with dependences on target density and temperature. We are interested in effects of dissociation of the target molecules which have not been experimentally investigated. The electro-magnetically driven shock wave has been proposed to produce well-defined dissociated target which is required to measure the stopping power with the dissociated effect. We have velocity measurements in the electro-magnetic shock tube to understand the target physical condition. The velocity measurement by laser refraction gives reliable experimental results, which shows that the shock velocity is not enough to dissociate hydrogen completely. The experiments indicate that input energy does not convert to the piston plasma in electro-magnetic shock tube efficiently.