One of the techniques by which highly ionized plasmas can be generated in the laboratory makes use of strong, electromagnetically driven shock waves propagating into a cold gas. In this paper the phenomenon is analyzed as a one-dimensional single-fluid hydromagnetic problem, neglecting dissipation behind the wave. We hypothesize that the rarefaction wave remains attached to the front. In the limit of essentially complete ionization behind the front the problem can be solved analytically as long as the transverse magnetic field there remains small compared with the longitudinal field.

Positive and negative mesons produced in a common target in the cyclotron are received in two photographic plates. In the magnetic field of the cyclotron, negatives are deflected to one plate, positives to the other. The mesons must pass through an absorber before entering the plates in order to be observable.