Radiative reverse shock laser experiments relevant to accretion processes in cataclysmic variables
- Department of Atmospheric, Oceanic, and Space Sciences, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109-2143 (United States)
- CEA-DAM-DIF, F-91297 Arpajon (France)
We discuss the production of radiative reverse shocks in experiments at the Omega-60 laser facility. The ability of this high-intensity laser to impart large energy densities on micron-thin foils makes it feasible to create supersonic plasma flows. Obtaining a radiative reverse shock in the laboratory requires a sufficiently fast flow (∼100 km/s) of a material whose opacity is large enough to produce energetically significant emission from experimentally achievable shocked layers. The reverse shock forms in the flow once it is impeded. This paper presents the first radiographic data of normal incidence, reverse shockwaves. These experiments are primarily motivated by the contribution of radiative reverse shock waves to the evolving dynamics of the cataclysmic variable (CV) system in which they reside. We show similarity properties to suggest that the experimental production of radiative reserve shocks in the laboratory may be scalable to such astrophysical systems.
- OSTI ID:
- 22228112
- Journal Information:
- Physics of Plasmas, Vol. 20, Issue 5; Other Information: (c) 2013 AIP Publishing LLC; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 1070-664X
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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