MINIATURE TARGETS FOR HYDRODYNAMIC INSTABILITY EXPERIMENTS ON NOVA

Millimeter-scale shock tubes with precision-machined submillimeter fea tures have been developed for hydrodynamic instability experiments con ducted on the Nova laser facility. We will describe two specific desig ns: a silica aerogel tracer disk and an aluminum-doped epoxy tracer st rip, both embedded in the shock-tube target. These unique features fac ilitate radiographic imaging of key phenomena of interest. We describe in detail the construction and characterization of the miniature targ ets, including the fabrication and emplacement of the radiographic tra cers. A sample of the experimental data is presented.