Colloquium: Physics & Astronomy – Dr. Carolyn Kuranz

About the event

The Department of Physics and Astronomy invites all to a colloquium featuring Dr. Carolyn Kuranz, University of Michigan. Dr Carolyn Kuranz will present their talk, “Shock-driven hydrodynamic instability experiments at the Omega Laser and National Ignition Facility.”

Meet for refreshments before the lecture at 3:45–4:10 p.m. in the foyer on floor G above the lecture hall.

Abstract: High-energy-density plasmas (HED) exist throughout our universe in an extreme state with temperatures greater than 105 K (~10 eV) and pressures greater than 106 atm (1 Mbar). On the largest scale, such as in a supernova, HED plasma systems can be billions of cm in size; on the smaller end, an inertial confinement fusion experiment can be one tenth of a cm. Due to pressure, density, and velocity gradients in these systems, several hydrodynamic processes can occur (Rayleigh-Taylor, Richtmyer Meshkov and Kelvin Helmholtz) creating complex structures or even turbulence. I will present an overview of the experimental HED hydrodynamics program at the University of Michigan and recent results showing mode-coupling in Richtmyer-Meshkov experiments, suppression of Kelvin-Helmholtz growth due to compressible effects, and the ablative stabilization of the Rayleigh-Taylor instability, as well as, the connections we can make in the laboratory to astrophysical phenomena.