Supernova experiments on the Nova laser

Supernova (SN) 1987A focused attention on the critical role of hydrodynamic instabilities in the evolution of supernovae. To test the modeling of thes e instabilities, we are developing laboratory experiments of hydrodynamic m ixing under conditions relevant to supernovae. Initial results were reporte d by Kane et al. in a recent paper. The Nova laser is used to generate a 10 -15 Mbar shock at the interface of a two-layer planar target, which trigger s perturbation growth, due to the Richtmeyer-Meshkov instability, and to th e Rayleigh-Taylor instability as the interface decelerates. This resembles the hydrodynamics of the He-H interface of a Type II supernova at intermedi ate times, up to a few times 10(3) s. The experiment is modeled using the h ydrodynamics codes HYADES and GALE, and the supernova code PROMETHEUS. Resu lts of the experiments and simulations are presented. We also present new a nalysis of the bubble velocity, a study of two-dimensional versus three-dim ensional difference in growth at the He-H interface of SN 1987A, and design s for two-dimensional versus three-dimensional hydro experiments.