J. F. Hansen

Dual, orthogonal, backlit pinhole radiography in OMEGA experiments

Backlit pinhole radiography used with ungated film as a detector creates x-ray radiographs with increased resolution and contrast. Current hydrodynamics experiments on the OMEGA Laser use a three-dimensional sinusoidal pattern as a seed perturbation for the study of instabilities. The structure of this perturbation makes it highly desirable to obtain two simultaneous orthogonal backlighting views. We accomplished this using two backlit pinholes each mounted 12mm from the target. The pinholes, of varying size and shape, were centered on 5mm square foils of 50μm thick Ta. The backlighting is by K-alpha emission from a 500μm square Ti or Sc foil mounted 500μm from the Ta on a plastic substrate. Four laser beams overfill the metal foil, so that the expanding plastic provides radial tamping of the expanding metal plasma. The resulting x-rays pass through the target onto (ungated) direct exposure film (DEF). Interference between the two views is reduced by using a nose cone in front of the DEF, typically with a...

A high energy density shock driven Kelvin-Helmholtz shear layer experiment

Radiographic data from a novel and highly successful high energy density Kelvin–Helmholtz (KH) instability experiment is presented along with synapses of the theory and simulation behind the target design. Data on instability growth are compared to predictions from simulation and theory. The key role played by baroclinic vorticity production in the functioning of the target and the key design parameters are also discussed. The data show the complete evolution of large distinct KH eddies, from formation to turbulent break-up. Unexpectedly, low density bubbles comparable to the vortex size are observed forming in the free-stream region above each vortex at late time. These bubbles have the appearance of localized shocks, possibly supporting a theoretical fluid dynamics conjecture about the existence of supersonic bubbles over the vortical structure [transonic convective Mach numbers, D. Papamoschou and A. Roshko, J. Fluid Mech. 197, 453 (1988)] that support localized shocks (shocklets) not extending into th...

Transition to turbulence and effect of initial conditions on three-dimensional compressible mixing in planar blast-wave-driven systems

Perturbations on an interface driven by a strong blast wave grow in time due to a combination of Rayleigh–Taylor, Richtmyer–Meshkov, and decompression effects. In this paper, results from three-dimensional (3D) numerical simulations of such a system under drive conditions to be attainable on the National Ignition Facility [E. M. Campbell, Laser Part. Beams 9, 209 (1991)] are presented. Using the multiphysics, adaptive mesh refinement, higher order Godunov Eulerian hydrocode, Raptor [L. H. Howell and J. A. Greenough, J. Comput. Phys. 184, 53 (2003)], the late nonlinear instability evolution, including transition to turbulence, is considered for various multimode perturbation spectra. The 3D post-transition state differs from the 2D result, but the process of transition proceeds similarly in both 2D and 3D. The turbulent mixing transition results in a reduction in the growth rate of the mixing layer relative to its pretransition value and, in the case of the bubble front, relative to the 2D result. The post...

Study of high Mach number laser driven blast waves

The study of blast waves produced by intense lasers in gases is motivated by the desire to explore astrophysically relevant hydrodynamic phenomena in the laboratory. A systematic scan of laser produced blast waves was performed and the structure of blast waves was examined over a wide range of drive laser energy. Lasers with energies ranging from 10–1000 J illuminated a pin target in either xenon or nitrogen gas, creating a spherical blast wave. A strongly radiating blast wave in xenon gas is observed while blast waves in nitrogen more closely approximate a pure Taylor–Sedov wave. It is also found that at all laser energies, blast waves traveling through xenon gas had their hydrodynamic evolution significantly affected by the passage of illumination laser.

Spike morphology in blast-wave-driven instability experiments

The laboratory experiments described in the present paper observe the blast-wave-driven Rayleigh–Taylor instability with three-dimensional (3D) initial conditions. About 5 kJ of energy from the Omega laser creates conditions similar to those of the He–H interface during the explosion phase of a supernova. The experimental target is a 150 μm thick plastic disk followed by a low-density foam. The plastic piece has an embedded, 3D perturbation. The basic structure of the pattern is two orthogonal sine waves where each sine wave has an amplitude of 2.5 μm and a wavelength of 71 μm. In some experiments, an additional wavelength is added to explore the interaction of modes. In experiments with 3D initial conditions the spike morphology differs from what has been observed in other Rayleigh–Taylor experiments and simulations. Under certain conditions, experimental radiographs show some mass extending from the interface to the shock front. Current simulations show neither the spike morphology nor the spike penetra...

Laboratory observation of secondary shock formation ahead of a strongly radiative blast wave

We have previously reported the experimental discovery of a second shock forming ahead of a radiative shock propagating in Xe. The initial shock is spherical, radiative, with a high Mach number, and it sends a supersonic radiative heat wave far ahead of itself. The heat wave rapidly slows to a transonic regime and when its Mach number drops to two with respect to the downstream plasma, the heat wave drives a second shock ahead of itself to satisfy mass and momentum conservation in the heat wave reference frame. We now show experimental data from a range of mixtures of Xe and N2, gradually changing the properties of the initial shock and the environment into which the shock moves and radiates (the radiative conductivity and the heat capacity). We have successfully observed second shock formation over the entire range from 100% Xe mass fraction to 100% N2. The formation radius of the second shock as a function of Xe mass fraction is consistent with an analytical estimate.

Three-Dimensional Hydrodynamic Experiments on the National Ignition Facility

The production of supersonic jets of material via the interaction of a strong shock wave with a spatially localized density perturbation is a common feature of inertial confinement fusion and astrophysics. The behavior of two-dimensional (2D) supersonic jets has previously been investigated in detail [J. M. Foster et. al, Phys. Plasmas 9, 2251 (2002)]. In three-dimensions (3D), however, there are new aspects to the behavior of supersonic jets in compressible media. In this paper, the commissioning activities on the National Ignition Facility (NIF) [J. A. Paisner et al., Laser Focus World 30, 75 (1994)] to enable hydrodynamic experiments will be presented as well as the results from the first series of hydrodynamic experiments. In these experiments, two of the first four beams of NIF are used to drive a 40 Mbar shock wave into millimeter scale aluminum targets backed by 100 mg/cc carbon aerogel foam. The remaining beams are delayed in time and are used to provide a point-projection x-ray backlighter source for diagnosing the three-dimensional structure of the jet evolution resulting from a variety of 2D and 3D features. Comparisons between data and simulations using several codes will be presented.

Experiment on the mass-stripping of an interstellar cloud in a high Mach number post-shock flow

The high Mach number flow that follows an astrophysical shock can strip mass from interstellar clouds located in the flow. Eventually, the mass-stripping may fully strip the cloud, dispersing the entire cloud mass into the flow, and incidentally ending the cloud’s star formation. Experiments have been carried out at the Omega laser [T. R. Boehly, D. L. Brown, R. S. Craxton et al., Opt. Commun. 133, 495 (1997)], attempting to simulate and quantify the mass-stripping as it occurs when a shock passes through interstellar clouds. Ten laser beams with 5kJ of energy drive a strong shock into a cylinder filled with low-density foam with an embedded 120μm Al sphere simulating an interstellar cloud. The density ratio between Al and foam is ∼9. Time-resolved x-ray radiographs show the cloud getting compressed by the shock (t≈5ns), undergoing a classical Kelvin-Helmholtz roll-up (12ns) followed by a Widnall instability (30ns), an inherently 3D effect that breaks the 2D symmetry of the experiment. Material is continu...

The effect of a short wavelength mode on the evolution of a long wavelength perturbation driven by a strong blast wave

Shock-accelerated material interfaces are potentially unstable to both the Richtmyer–Meshkov and Rayleigh–Taylor (RT) instabilities. Shear that develops along with these instabilities in turn drives the Kelvin–Helmholtz instability. When driven by strong shocks, the evolution and interaction of these instabilities is further complicated by compressibility effects. This paper details a computational study of the formation of jets at strongly driven hydrodynamically unstable interfaces, and the interaction of these jets with one another and with developing spikes and bubbles. This provides a nonlinear spike-spike and spike-bubble interaction mechanism that can have a significant impact on the large-scale characteristics of the mixing layer. These interactions result in sensitivity to the initial perturbation spectrum, including the relative phases of the various modes, that persists long into the nonlinear phase of instability evolution. Implications for instability growth rates, the bubble merger process, ...

Experimental observations of turbulent mixing due to Kelvin–Helmholtz instability on the OMEGA Laser Facility

Shear-flow, Kelvin–Helmholtz (KH) turbulent mixing experiments were performed on the OMEGA Laser Facility [Boehly et al., Opt. Commun. 133, 495 (1997)] in which laser-driven shock waves propagated through a low-density plastic foam placed on top of a higher-density plastic foil. The plastic foil was comprised a thin iodine-doped plastic tracer layer bonded on each side to an undoped density-matched polyamide-imide plastic. Behind the shock front, lower-density foam plasma flowed over the higher-density plastic plasma, such that the interface between the foam and plastic was KH unstable. The initial perturbations consisted of pre-imposed, sinusoidal 2D perturbations, and broadband 3D perturbations due to surface roughness at the interface between the plastic and foam. KH instability growth was measured using side-on radiography with a point-projection 5-keV vanadium backlighter. Time-integrated images were captured on D-8 x-ray film. Spatial density profiles of iodine-doped plastic mixed with foam were inf...