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K. A. Keilty, E. P. Liang (Rice University), T. R. Ditmire, B. A. Remington, A. M. Rubenchik, K. Shigemori (LLNL)
We are simulating experiments being done on the Falcon laser to generate strong, cylidrically diverging blast waves of relevance to astrophysics.[1] These experiments extend to earlier work by Grun et al.[2] on spherical blast waves. The Falcon laser generates pulses of a few hundred mJ in 30 fs at a wavelength of 820 nm, imaged with F/15 optics into an Ar gas-jet target of ion density 1019 cm3. The energy is deposited over a cylindrical volume of dimensions 1 mm length by 50 mm diameter. For our numerical simulations, we use the radiation-hydrodynamics code HYADES [3] in cylindrical geometry to simulate the evolution of this cylindrical shock wave, and compare the simulations with the data and with Sedov-Taylor blast wave theory. The goal of this effort is the develop a laboratory setting for studying strong shocks of relevance to supernova remnants, gamma-ray bursts, and other high energy astrophysics phenomena. [Work performed under the auspices of U.S. DOE Contract No. W-7405-Eng-36.] 1. C.F. McKee and B.T. Draine, Science 252, 397 (1991) 2. J. Grun et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 66, 2738 (1991) 3. J.T. Larsen and S.M. Lane, JQSRT 51, 179 (1994)