Electron-beam-driven instability in a solid

A relativistic electron beam (REB) accelerator was used to generate a shock wave (6–10 kbar) in a solid aluminum plate, and the tensile wave following the compressive wave produced an instability of the back surface of the plate. The wavelength of the instability, observed by holographic interferometry, and the measured negative acceleration of the solid-gas interface were used in a modified theory of Taylor instability to determine a value of 1.7×103 P for the viscosity of aluminum which was in reasonable agreement with a previously reported value. It is suggested that the mechanism of Taylor instability can qualitatively explain the obervation in a previous experiment of a distribution of particle velocities at a surface of a solid upon arrival of a very high-amplitude (∼1 Mbar) shock wave.