Modeling of laser-driven instability experiments*

We discuss the modeling of laser-driven hydrodynamic instability experiments, using the RAGE radiation-hydrodynamics code. A particular point of interest of these experiments is the effect of the laser pulse on the time-dependent shock conditions, leading to different physical processes being responsible for unstable growth. Correctly understanding the behavior of these experiments requires an understanding of these evolving conditions, and use of a laser model greatly improves our ability to model the experiments.