Shocks and blast waves are ubiquitous features observed in plasma physics and in astrophysical
phenomena and, as such, have long been the subject of experimental and
theoretical studies. This thesis describes experimental and numerical investigations of the
dynamics of laser driven shocks in cluster media. Target gases of atomic clusters have
been shown to exhibit e cient absorption of high-intensity laser radiation, allowing to
use `table-top' scale laser systems to drive high Mach-number shock waves. By applying
hydrodynamic scaling laws, these systems can provide insight into the physics governing
much larger astrophysical phenomena, such as supernova remnants.
Experiments were conducted to investigate the structure and propagation dynamics
of cylindrical blast waves in radiative and non-radiative gases. Shock pro ling studies
performed at Imperial College London are presented, that highlight the need for
non-LTE calculations of the shock physics. Investigations into the onset of the radiation
driven thermal cooling instability (TCI) were performed by means of a streaked Schlieren
technique, developed to obtain single-shot shock trajectory measurements, while removing
any ambiguities imposed by shot-to-shot
uctuations. In order to scale previous results
to higher drive energies, experiments were performed using the Vulcan laser facility at
the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory. The resulting cluster absorption and shocked gas
comparison data is discussed in detail, including data indicating the rst experimental
observation of TCI.
To study shock collisions, a unique focal geometry has been employed, creating two
near-parallel cylindrical shocks. By means of an interferometric tomography technique,
the full 3D electron density pro le was reconstructed, showing complex material transport
and Mach stem formation at the oblique shock collision interface, con rmed by 3D hydrodynamics
simulations. To investigate this feature further, shock interactions with an
obstruction were also performed, showing interesting propagation features through density
steps imposed by the obstruction in the cold gas stream
