Theoretical and Experimental Studies of Magneto-Rayleigh-Taylor Instabilities

Magneto-Rayleigh-Taylor instability (MRT) is important to magnetized target fusion, wire-array z-pinches, and equation-of-state studies using flyer plates or isentropic compression. It is also important to the study of the crab nebula. The investigators performed MRT experiments on thin foils, driven by the mega-ampere linear transformer driver (LTD) facility completed in their laboratory. This is the first 1-MA LTD in the USA. Initial experiments on the seeding of MRT were performed. Also completed was an analytic study of MRT for a finite plasma slab with arbitrary magnetic fields tangential to the interfaces. The effects of magnetic shear and feedthrough were analyzed