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Passive Freeze-Out of the Richtmyer-Meshkov Instability

J. Strucka1,2, D. M. Sterbentz3, B. Lukic4, K. Mughal1, Y. Yao1, K. Marrow1, W. J. Schill3, C. F. Jekel3, D. A. White3 et al.

N. Asmedianov5, R. Grikshtas5, O. Belozerov5, S. Efimov5, J. Skidmore6, A. Rack4, Ya. E. Krasik5, J. L. Belof3, J. P. Chittenden1, and S. N. Bland1

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Phys. Rev. Lett. 136, 145102 – Published 10 April, 2026

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/3wgy-sgkz

Abstract

The Richtmyer-Meshkov instability (RMI) poses a major challenge in inertial confinement fusion (ICF) due to its role in mixing and performance degradation. We report the first experimental observation of passive freeze-out of RMI in a low-pressure surrogate regime, an instability stagnation effect induced without modifying the driving pressure pulse or the target surface geometry. Using additively manufactured subsurface voids in a sinusoidal target, we convert a single shock into a sequence of weaker shocks that suppress instability growth upstream of the surface by over 70%. High-speed x-ray imaging and hydrodynamic simulations suggest that this suppression arises primarily from temporal shaping, with lesser contributions from spatial curvature and shock weakening. Our results demonstrate a driver-independent pathway for controlling shock-driven hydrodynamic instabilities relevant to ICF and other high energy density systems.

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Phys. Rev. Lett. 136, 145102– Published 10 April, 2026
  • Received 3 September 2025
  • Revised 23 January 2026
  • Accepted 10 March 2026
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Published by the American Physical Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the published article’s title, journal citation, and DOI.

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