Shock wave measurements

Much of our knowledge of the properties of matter at high pressures, from the static ruby pressure scale to shock compression at Gbar pressures, rests ultimately on the use of shock waves. Simple conservation relations define the initial and final states, leading to absolute measurements. I will describe some methods for measuring the equation of state of materials under shock loading for a variety of methods of shock production, and also describe the basis for other optical methods used widely in shock physics