Shedding light on shock induced chemistry

Rapid shock-induced chemistry is an essential characteristic of high explosives. The effect of these chemical reactions is apparent in a variety of measurements, such as embedded gauge, front curvature, and "Pop" plot run to detonation data used to calibrate reactive burn models. However, these techniques measure the effects of chemistry without any consideration of molecules, bonds, or temperature! Molecular dynamics simulations of shocked explosives provide all of this information, but how do we know the results are adequate reflections of the real materials? We need to experimentally see the reactions happening inside shocked explosives and the temperature that drives these reactions. This talk will detail the development and application of several interferometric and spectroscopic diagnostics to the problem of shock induced chemistry in high explosives, discuss what has been learned, the practical limitations of each technique, and the prospect of validating chemical predictions with experimental data.