Rayleigh-Taylor instabilities in high-energy density settings on the National Ignition Facility.

The Rayleigh-Taylor (RT) instability occurs at an interface between two fluids of differing density during an acceleration. These instabilities can occur in very diverse settings, from inertial confinement fusion (ICF) implosions over spatial scales of [Formula: see text] cm (10-1,000 μm) to supernova explosions at spatial scales of [Formula: see text] cm and larger. We describe experiments and techniques for reducing ("stabilizing") RT growth in high-energy density (HED) settings on the National Ignition Facility (NIF) at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.

Concept to diagnose mix with imaging x-ray Thomson scattering.

Turbulent mixing of two fluid species is a ubiquitous problem, prevalent in systems such as inertial confinement fusion (ICF) capsule implosions, supernova remnants, and other astrophysical systems. In complex, high Reynolds number compressible high energy density (HED) flows such as these, hydrodynamic instabilities initiate the turbulent mixing process, which can then feedback and alter the mean hydrodynamic motion through nonlinear processes. In order to predict how these systems evolve under turbulent conditions, models are used.