Radiative Shock Experiment Using High Power Laser

High power lasers are nowadays tools that can be used to simulate some astrophysical phenomena. In this experiment, the physical parameters have been chosen in order to reproduce radiative shock conditions. The targets were made of a small cell (1 mm3) filled with Xenon at low pressure (< 1 atm). On the laser side, we had a three layers pusher optimized for reaching conditions where the launched shock in Xe is radiative. Rear side and transverse diagnostics allowed to determine shock and precursor velocities, electronic density along the shock propagation. Comparison with numerical simulations and models are presented. These experiments were performed with the LULI laser.