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Experiments were performed to investigate the ablative Richtmyer-Meshkov (RM) instability in plastic (CH2) foils. The two-dimensional (2-D) perturbations were created by laser imprinting using a special phase plate with a 2-D single mode, ~70 µm wavelength sinusoidal intensity pattern on the plastic foil. The growth of imprinted perturbations was measured by face-on, X-ray radiography using Sm and Ta backlighters in 30-µm and 50-µm thick plastic foils, respectively. After the initial imprinting phase, the 2-D perturbations grew due to ablative RM instability before the onset of foil acceleration when they were further amplified by Rayleigh-Taylor instability. Experimental results agree reasonably well with 2-D hydrodynamic simulations and analytic models showing that the modulation growth in areal density is due to ablative RM instability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We investigate on the National Ignition Facility the ablative Rayleigh-Taylor instability in the transition from weakly nonlinear to highly nonlinear regimes. A planar plastic package with preimposed two-dimensional broadband modulations is accelerated for up to 12 ns by the x-ray drive of a gas-filled Au radiation cavity with a radiative temperature plateau at 175 eV. This extended tailored drive allows a distance traveled in excess of 1 mm for a 130 μm thick foil. Measurements of the modulation optical density performed by x-ray radiography show that a bubble-merger regime for the Rayleigh-Taylor instability at an ablation front is achieved for the first time in indirect drive. The mutimode modulation amplitudes are in the nonlinear regime, grow beyond the Haan multimode saturation level, evolve toward the longer wavelengths, and show insensitivity to the initial conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We report on a novel planar direct-drive platform for hydrodynamics experiments on the National Ignition Facility (NIF). Its commissioning has been performed as part of the NIF Discovery Science Program. This platform enables the use of a 30 ns drive at an average intensity of 200 TW/cm2, creating a planar shock and ablation front over a 2 mm radius. To benchmark the performance of this design, the planarity of both the shock and ablation fronts has been measured between 26 ns and 28 ns after the start of the laser drive in a 3 mm-thick CH foil. The platform was then used to measure late-time Rayleigh-Taylor instability (RTI) growth at the ablation front for a 2D-rippled 300 μm-thick CH foil. Simultaneously, a numerical platform has been developed with the CHIC radiation hydrodynamics code at the CELIA laboratory. The CHIC numerical platform allows, for the first time, a complete simulation of the experiments over 30 ns to be performed. Large-scale simulations recover the trajectory and the 2D RTI growth measurements. They are further compared with half-mode simulations performed with identical parameters. We show that both numerical techniques fit with analytical modeling of RTI growth and discuss plans for future campaigns. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Academic tests in physical regimes not encountered in Inertial Confinement Fusion will help to build a better understanding of hydrodynamic instabilities and constitute the scientifically grounded validation complementary to fully integrated experiments. Under the National Ignition Facility (NIF) Discovery Science program, recent indirect drive experiments have been carried out to study the ablative Rayleigh-Taylor Instability (RTI) in transition from weakly nonlinear to highly nonlinear regime [A. Casner et al., Phys. Plasmas 19, 082708 (2012)]. In these experiments, a modulated package is accelerated by a 175 eV radiative temperature plateau created by a room temperature gas-filled platform irradiated by 60 NIF laser beams. The unique capabilities of the NIF are harnessed to accelerate this planar sample over much larger distances (≃ 1.4 mm) and longer time periods (≃ 12 ns) than previously achieved. This extended acceleration could eventually allow entering into a turbulent-like regime not precluded by the theory for the RTI at the ablation front. Simultaneous measurements of the foil trajectory and the subsequent RTI growth are performed and compared with radiative hydrodynamics simulations. We present RTI growth measurements for two-dimensional single-mode and broadband multimode modulations. The dependence of RTI growth on initial conditions and ablative stabilization is emphasized, and we demonstrate for the first time in indirect-drive a bubble-competition, bubble-merger regime for the RTI at ablation front. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Understanding and mitigating hydrodynamic instabilities and the fuel mix are the key elements for achieving ignition in Inertial Confinement Fusion. Cryogenic indirect-drive implosions on the National Ignition Facility have evidenced that the ablative Rayleigh-Taylor Instability (RTI) is a driver of the hot spot mix. This motivates the switch to a more flexible higher adiabat implosion design [O. A. Hurricane et al., Phys. Plasmas 21, 056313 (2014)]. The shell instability is also the main candidate for performance degradation in low-adiabat direct drive cryogenic implosions [Goncharov et al., Phys. Plasmas 21, 056315 (2014)]. This paper reviews recent results acquired in planar experiments performed on the OMEGA laser facility and devoted to the modeling and mitigation of hydrodynamic instabilities at the ablation front. In application to the indirect-drive scheme, we describe results obtained with a specific ablator composition such as the laminated ablator or a graded-dopant emulator. In application to the direct drive scheme, we discuss experiments devoted to the study of laser imprinted perturbations with special phase plates. The simulations of the Richtmyer-Meshkov phase reversal during the shock transit phase are challenging, and of crucial interest because this phase sets the seed of the RTI growth. Recent works were dedicated to increasing the accuracy of measurements of the phase inversion. We conclude by presenting a novel imprint mitigation mechanism based on the use of underdense foams. The foams induce laser smoothing by parametric instabilities thus reducing the laser imprint on the CH foil. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Magnetic fields generated by the nonlinear Rayleigh-Taylor growth of laser-seeded three-dimensional broadband perturbations were measured in laser-accelerated planar targets using ultrafast proton radiography. The experimental data show self-similar behavior in the growing cellular magnetic field structures. These observations are consistent with a bubble competition and merger model that predicts the time evolution of the number and size of the bubbles, linking the cellular magnetic field structures with the Rayleigh-Taylor bubble and spike growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Experiments reporting magnetic-field generation by the ablative nonlinear Rayleigh–Taylor (RT) instability are reviewed. The experiments show how large-scale magnetic fields can, under certain circumstances, emerge and persist in strongly driven laboratory and astrophysical flows at drive pressures exceeding one million times atmospheric pressure. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]