[en] The optical analyzer technique has proved to be a useful means of obtaining wave velocities at high pressures. Stepped wedges of the investigated material emit shock, and later, rarefaction waves into a transparent analyzer covering the material. The time interval between shock and rarefaction plotted versus wedge thickness gives a linear plot whose intercept fixes the target/driver thickness ratio for exact wave overtake, and thus gives a relation between the shock velocity and overtaking wave velocity at pressure. The slope of this line is intimately related to the wave velocity at pressure of the analyzer in front of the wedge. This aspect of the technique has not yet been exploited. We present the appropriate analysis, some data on bromoform (one of the analyzers used), and discuss some possible applications of this technique. copyright 1994 American Institute of Physics