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 a two-layer planar package composed of 85 mu m Cu backed by 500 mu m CH2, having a single-mode sinusoidal perturbation at the interface, with lambda = 200 mu m and eta(0) = 20 mu m. The Nova Laser is used to generate a 10-15 Mbar [(10-15) x 10(12) dyne cm(2)] shock at the interface, which triggers perturbation growth as a result of the Richtmyer-Meshkov instability, followed by the Rayleigh-Taylor instability as the interface decelerates. This resembles the hydrodynamics of the He-H interface of a Type II supernova at intermediate times, up to a few times 10(3) s. The experiment is modeled using the hydrodynamics codes HYADES and GALE and the supernova code PROMETHEUS. Results of the experiments and simulations are presented.