Published online by Cambridge University Press: 30 August 2004
We modify the Sedov theory to describe plasma shock waves generated in a pulsed laser ablating process. Under reasonable asymptotic behavior and boundary conditions, the propagating rules in global free space (including near areas and mid-far areas) of pulsed-laser-induced shock waves are established for the first time. In particular, the temporal behavior of energy causing a difference in the propagation characteristics between the practical plasma shock wave and the ideal shock wave in a point explosion model is detailedly discussed. The theoretical results calculated with our model are in good agreement with the corresponding experimental data. In addition, some important free parameters which could not directly be obtained from other previous works are determined naturally on the basis of our model.