Investigations of the Kelvin-Helmholtz Instability in compressible and highly-magnetized conditions on NIF*

The Kelvin-Helmholtz instability (KHI) is ubiquitous in astrophysical phenomena and ICF/HED conditions. KHI develops between two fluids flowing pass one another, producing a shear layer. Well-known stabilization mechanisms include supersonic stabilization conjectured by Landau in 1944 and the effect of a tangential magnetic field along the shear velocity. Building from a magnetized, incompressible OMEGA platform, a magnetized , compressible version was designed and commissioned on NIF. By combining for the first time both stabilization mechanisms in High Energy Density conditions, we aim to investigate and benchmark magnetized, compressible KHI growth rate formula recently revisited. At the NIF, the huge amount of available laser energy enables indeed to sustain a robust, post-shock flow at late time. Making use of light foam material for the shock tube should also be beneficial to mitigate the diffusion of magnetic fields across the mixing region. The surprizing results of this novel experimental platform will be compared to magnetized radiation hydrodynamics simulations. Future plans for unambiguously separate the effects of compressibility and magnetic field will be presented taking advantage of a novel theoretical framework.