The feed-out process: Rayleigh-Taylor and Richtmyer-Meshkov instabilities in thin, laser-driven foils

Abstract

Eight beams carrying a shaped pulse from the NOVA laser were focused into a hohlraum with a total energy of about 25 kJ. A planar foil was placed on the side of the hohlraum with perturbations facing away from the hohlraum. All perturbations were 4 {micro}m in amplitude and 50 {micro}m in wavelength. Three foils of pure aluminum were shot with thicknesses and pulse lengths respectively of 86 {micro}m and 2. 2 ns, 50 {micro}m and 4.5 ns, and 35 {micro}m with both 2.2 ns and 4. 5 ns pulses. Two composite foils constructed respectively of 32 and 84 {micro}m aluminum on the ablative side and 10 {micro}m beryllium on the cold surface were also shot using the 2.2 ns pulse. X-ray framing cameras recorded perturbation growth using both face- and side-on radiography. The LASNEX code was used to model the experiments. A shock wave interacted with the perturbation on the cold surface generating growth from a Richtmyer-Meshkov instability and a strong acoustic mode. The cold surface perturbation fed-out to the Rayleigh-Taylor unstable ablation surface, both by differential acceleration and interface coupling, where it grew. A density jump did not appear to have a large effect on feed-out from interface coupling. The Rayleigh-Taylor instability`s vortex pairs overtook and reversed the direction of flow of the Richtmyer-Meshkov vortices, resulting in the foil moving from a sinuous to a bubble and spike configuration. The Rayleigh-Taylor instability may have acted as an ablative instability on the hot surface, and as a classical instability on the cold surface, on which grew second and third order harmonics.