Experimental observation of the rupture of a jet and comparison with theoretical models and molecular dynamics simulations.

The propagation of a jet from a triangular groove of a tin target subjected to a laser pulse has been observed by picosecond laser imaging. These observations show that the rupture propagates from the head of the jet to its foot. The observed fracture pattern is compatible with large scale molecular dynamics simulations, and supports the hypotheses of the FZP fragmentation model proposed in the literature. This model requires the density of the jet and its velocity, the latter was measured and compared to the prediction of the BMPT-2 model recently proposed in the literature, which allows the calculation of these two quantities. The agreement being correct, BMPT-2 allows to estimate the density of the jet which appears lower than its value at zero pressure.