Reply to Reply and Further Analysis of paper "New probing techniques of radiative shocks" (C. Stehle et al, Opt.Comm. 285, 64 (2012))

TL;DR

This paper critically analyzes previous claims about radiative shocks, revealing inconsistencies in their results and highlighting limitations of XUV probing for detecting radiative precursors, thus challenging prior interpretations.

Contribution

It provides a detailed critique of earlier experimental results and demonstrates the limitations of XUV probing in studying radiative precursors in shock experiments.

Findings

Shock velocity below 20 km/s contradicts radiative precursor existence

XUV probing is more sensitive to density than temperature

Previous results are inconsistent with radiative shock models

Abstract

We show in this paper that the "reply to comment" by Chantal Stehl\'e et al was not satisfactorily and is contradictory to their latest results. The analysis of the published results of their last campaign reveals an average shock velocity below 20 km/s which should not be compatible with the existence of a radiative precursor. Furthermore, XUV probing is sensitive to density more than to temperature and is not suited to probe a radiative precursor, which is a pure temperature wave. These results also suggest exploding back layers of the pusher and some jet originating from a crater at the back of the pusher.