Radiative shocks in magnetic environments on OMEGA

Shock waves play a central role in high-energy density flows, from capsule compression in inertial confinement fusion to astrophysics, with supernova remnants, clouds’ collapse and cosmic rays’ acceleration. Two types of shocks usually studied separately play a major role in astrophysics and supernova dynamics. Radiative shocks produce a radiative flux high enough to perturb their surroundings, creating a radiative precursor upstream from the shock, or even changing the shock dynamics. On the other hand, in the presence of an external magnetic field, MHD shocks, such as the one linked to the magnetosonic wave, and magnetic precursors can be formed. While both shock structures are based on different physical mechanisms, they both deform the upstream region by forming precursors, and exist often in the same situation such as old supernova remnants.

A series of experiments have been planned at OMEGA and LULI2000 to generate the necessary data to ascertain the correct modeling of radiative shocks propagating in a background magnetic field. This presentation will report on the experimental results and numerical modeling of the first OMEGA campaign.