Detonation on a tabletop in Nitromethane*

We report generating a shock in nitromethane that is sustained by the explosive energy of reaction, using a convenient tabletop apparatus. This is effectively a microscopic detonation. Our tabletop shock apparatus uses a laser-driven flyer plate assembly and an optical pyrometer, where we can launch flyer plates to an array of mass-produced tiny cells containing liquids. Using a photon Doppler velocimeter apparatus, we can measure temporal profiles and energy of the incoming and outgoing shocks to study shock wave energy dissipation/amplification below and above emission thresholds, respectively. Graybody fits to the measured emission extract temperatures ~3000K from shock-initiated nitromethane. The ability to conveniently shock liquid cells on a tabletop with high throughput provides opportunity to study detonation in many energetic materials.