Observation of a Kelvin-Helmholtz Instability in a High-Energy-Density Plasma on the Omega Laser

Abstract

A laser initiated experiment is described in which an unstable plasma shear layer is produced by driving a blast wave along a plastic surface with sinusoidal perturbations. In response to the vorticity deposited and the shear flow established by the blast wave, the interface rolls up into large vortices characteristic of the Kelvin-Helmholtz instability. The experiment used x-ray radiography to capture the first well-resolved images of Kelvin-Helmholtz vortices in a high-energy-density plasma.