Shock Response of Barium Fluoride

Barium fluoride is a transparent solid whose shock response has only been studied upto 4GPa. In this work we will studied the shock response of [100]-oriented single crystals of barium fluoride (BaF₂) up to a pressure of ~46 GPa. We conducted plate impact experiments at the Institute for Shock Physics using a powder gun to propel a copper (Cu) projectile with a thickness of ~1 mm into a ~1 mm thick barium fluoride target backed by a 3 mm thick [100] lithium fluoride (LiF) optical window, at velocities up to 2.81 km/s. The velocity history of the impact interface and the BaF2/LiF interface were measured using Velocity Interferometer System for Any Reflector (VISAR). The wave profiles at the impact surface in a plate impact experiment to determine the Hugoniot states as well as the optical properties in barium fluoride under extreme conditions to tests its functionality as an optical window for other high pressure shock physics experiments. In this poster we present the preliminary results from our experiments.