Supernova-relevant hydrodynamic instability experiments on the Nova Laser

Supernova 1987A focused attention on the critical role of hydrodynamic instabilities in the evolution of supernovae. To test the modeling of these instabilities we are developing laboratory experiments of hydrodynamic mixing under conditions relevant to supernovae. The target consists of two-layer planar package composed on 85 micron Cu backed by 500 micron CH2, having a single mode sinusoidal perturbation at the interface, with gamma = 200 microns, nuo + 20 microns. The Nova laser is used to generate a 10-15 Mbar (10- 15x10{sup 12} dynes/cm2) shock at the interface, which triggers perturbation growth, due to the Richtmyer-Meshov instability followed by the Raleigh-Taylor instability as the interface decelerates. This resembles the hydrodynamics of the He-H interface of a Type II supernova at the intermediate times, up to a few x10{sup 3} s. The experiment is modeled using the hydrodynamic codes HYADES and CALE, and the supernova code PROMETHEUS. We are designing experiments to test the differences in the growth of 2D vs 3D single mode perturbations; such differences may help explain the high observed velocities of radioactive core material in SN1987A. Results of the experiments and simulations are presented