The Shock/Shear platform for planar radiation-hydrodynamics experiments on the National Ignition Facility

Abstract

An indirectly-driven shock tube experiment fielded on the National Ignition Facility (NIF) was used to create a high-energy-density hydrodynamics platform at unprecedented scale. Scaling up a shear-induced mixing experiment previously fielded at OMEGA, the NIF shear platform drives 130 μm/ns shocks into a CH foam-filled shock tube (∼ 60 mg/cc) with interior dimensions of 1.5 mm diameter and 5 mm length. The pulse-shaping capabilities of the NIF are used to extend the drive for >10 ns, and the large interior tube volumes are used to isolate physics-altering edge effects from the region of interest. The scaling of the experiment to the NIF allows for considerable improvement in maximum driving time of hydrodynamics, in fidelity of physics under examination, and in diagnostic clarity. Details of the experimental platform and post-shot simulations used in the analysis of the platform-qualifying data are presented. Hydrodynamic scaling is used to compare shear data from OMEGA with that from NIF, suggesting a possible change in the dimensionality of the instability at late times from one platform to the other.