Window corrections of z-cut quartz at 1550 nm under elastic, uniaxial compression up to 10 GPa

Z-cut alpha-quartz single crystals were shocked up to 10 GPa by symmetric impact to carefully examine their performance as an optical window in new velocity interferometers operating at 1550 nm, such as displacement interferometer system for any reflector (DISAR) [Appl. Phys. Lett. 89, 111101 (2006)1 In situ particle velocity measurements allowed the shock Hugoniot data and velocity corrections to be obtained accurately by a simple probe. The results give the elastic Hugoniot state equation as D-s=6.270+ 1.651u(p), and the dependence of velocity correction (Delta u(s)) on the true particle velocity (up) at 1550 nm is well described by exponential relation Delta u(s)=0.0948 up(1.1876). By combining the velocity correction and shock velocity measurements, the relation of the refractive index (n) versus relative density (rho/rho(0)) for z-cut quartz is also determined to be n=1.0890 + 0.4393 rho/rho(0). The wave profile measurements also indicate that the pressure limit where z-cut quartz's response is simple is 10.04 GPa, and it can be used as an optical window within this limit in shock experiments. (C) 2011 American Institute of Physics. [doi:10.1063/1.3581079]