Counter-streaming radiative shock experiments on the Orion laser

Francisco Suzuki-Vidal , Thomas Clayson , G. F. Swadling , S. Patankar , G. C. Burdiak , S. V. Lebedev , R. A. Smith , Chantal Stehlé , Uddhab Chaulagain , Raj Laxmi Singh (1) , Jean Larour (1) , Michaela Kozlová , C. Spindloe , J. Foster , J. Skidmore , E. Gumbrell , P. Graham , C. Danson

1 LPP - Laboratoire de Physique des Plasmas

The formation of radiative shocks, shocks in which the structure of density and temperature is affected by radiation from the shock-heated matter, is ubiquitous in many astrophysical scenarios. Experiments were performed at the Orion laser using a new target configuration that allows studying the formation of single and counter-streaming radiative shocks in gas-filled targets (Ne, Ar, Kr, Xe), with initial pressures ~0.1-1 bar and a driver intensity of ~6x10**14 W/cm2. The shocks propagate at velocities ~60 km/s and were diagnosed with optical interferometry (streaked and time-resolved) and point-projection X-ray backlighting allowing to probe simultaneously the pre-shock radiative precursor and the shock front itself. Besides varying the extent of the radiative precursor the results show that different gases seem to have an effect on the shock front as evidenced by a number of spatial features. The results are compared with radiative hydrodynamics simulations in 1-D (HELIOS) and 2-D (NYM/PETRA). http://absimage.aps.org/image/DPP16/MWS_DPP16-2016-000529.pdf

Domaines: Physique des plasmas [physics.plasm-ph]

Francisco Suzuki-Vidal, Thomas Clayson, G. F. Swadling, S. Patankar, G. C. Burdiak, et al.. Counter-streaming radiative shock experiments on the Orion laser. 58th Annual Meeting of the APS Division of Plasma Physics, Oct 2016, San Jose, California, United States. ⟨hal-02894227⟩