Rayleigh–Taylor spike evaporation

Laser-based experiments have shown that Rayleigh–Taylor (RT) growth in thin, perturbed copper foils leads to a phase dominated by narrow spikes between thin bubbles. These experiments were well modeled and diagnosed until this “ spike” phase, but not into this spike phase. Experiments were designed, modeled, and performed on the OMEGA laser [T. R. Boehly, D. L. Brown, R. S. Craxton et al., Opt. Commun. 133, 495 (1997)] to study the late-time spike phase. To simulate the conditions and evolution of late time RT, a copper target was fabricated consisting of a series of thin ridges (spikes in cross section) 150 μm apart on a thin flat copper backing. The target was placed on the side of a scale-1.2 hohlraum with the ridges pointing into the hohlraum, which was heated to 190 eV. Side-on radiography imaged the evolution of the ridges and flat copper backing into the typical RT bubble and spike structure including the “ mushroom-like feet” on the tips of the spikes. RAGE computer models [R. M. Baltrusaitis, M. ...

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