US 12,148,536 B2
Synchronous excitation of multiple shock waves
Keith Nelson, Newton, MA (US); Steven Kooi, Lexington, MA (US); and Thomas Pezeril, Le Mans (FR)
Assigned to MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY, Cambridge, MA (US); and CENTRE NATIONAL DE LA RECHERCHE SCIENTIFIQUE, Paris (FR)
Filed by Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA (US); and Centre National De La Recherche Scientifique, Paris (FR)
Filed on Oct. 9, 2020, as Appl. No. 17/066,909.
Claims priority of provisional application 62/913,940, filed on Oct. 11, 2019.
Prior Publication US 2021/0110937 A1, Apr. 15, 2021
Int. Cl. G21B 1/23 (2006.01); G21B 1/03 (2006.01); G21B 1/19 (2006.01)
CPC G21B 1/23 (2013.01) [G21B 1/03 (2013.01); G21B 1/19 (2013.01)] 11 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A method to excite a shock wave in a shock propagation layer of a target assembly, the method comprising:
generating a pulsed laser beam;
splitting the pulsed laser beam into a plurality of pulsed laser beams;
shaping the plurality of pulsed laser beams into a plurality of concentric pulsed laser rings of different diameters; and
applying the plurality of concentric pulsed laser rings to the shock propagation layer, to thereby produce a plurality of optically excited concentric shock waves in the shock propagation layer in a focal region;
wherein shaping the plurality of pulsed laser beams includes adjusting temporal and/or spatial intervals between successive rings of the concentric pulsed laser rings to match propagation times of corresponding successive concentric shock waves in the shock propagation layer of the target assembly.