Measurement of the continuous radiation of shock heated krypton and xenon

Abstract We report on the measurement of the Recombination Continuum of Krypton in the wavelength region between 2300 Å and 3600 Å. The plasma behind a reflected shock has been used as a light source. Good agreement was found between measured absorption coefficients and theoretical ones if the electron density was measured from the broadening of the Balmer line Hβ, while the measurements show departures by a factor 5 to 9 from Rankine-Hugoniot predicted values. Possible deviations from ideal shock behaviour are discussed.