Abstract Details
Spike morphology in blast-wave-driven instability experiments relevant to supernova
Author: Carolyn C Kuranz
Requested Type: Oral Only
Submitted: 2009-04-21 20:25:36
Co-authors: R.P. Drake, M.J. Grosskopf, C. Krauland, D. Marion, B. Fryxell, A. Budde, J.F. Hansen, A.R. Miles, J. Knauer, T. Plewa, N. Hearn, D. Arnett
Contact Info:
University of Michgan
2455 Hayward Dr
Ann Arbor, MI 48109
United States
Abstract Text:
This presentation describes experiments performed on the Omega laser exploring the 3D Rayleigh-Taylor instability at a blast-wave-driven interface. This experiment is well-scaled to the He-H interface during the explosion phase of SN1987A. In the experiments, ~ 5 kJ of laser energy was used to create a planar blast wave in a plastic disk which is accelerated into a lower-density foam. These circumstances induce the Rayleigh-Taylor instability. The plastic disk has an intentional pattern machined at the plastic/foam interface. This perturbation is three-dimensional with a basic structure of two orthogonal sine waves with a wavelength of 71 µm and amplitude of 2.5 µm. In some cases, supplemental modes are added. We have detected the interface structure under these conditions, using dual orthogonal radiography, and will show some of the resulting data. Recent advancements in our x-ray backlighting techniques have greatly improved the resolution of our x-ray radiographic images. Under certain conditions, the improved images show some mass extending beyond the RT spike and penetrating further than previously observed. Current simulations do not show this phenomenon. Our leading hypothesis is that the increased mixing may be caused by magnetic pressure, generated by an aziuthmal magnetic field.
This research was sponsored by the Stewardship Science Academic Alliance through DOE Research Grants DE-FG52-07NA28058, DE-FG52-04NA00064.
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