Shock interactions in multi-fluid plasmas

Shock interactions in plasmas can occur in settings as varied as stellar physics, inertial confinement fusion experiments and planetary entry of spacecraft. In unmagnetised plasmas, shock interactions with density discontinuities typically result in vorticity being deposited on the discontinuity, driving interfacial instability. In the context of fusion, such instabilities are highly detrimental to performance. In the magneto-hydrodynamic limit, it has been theoretically demonstrated that in a magnetized plasma the structure of the shock interaction usually changes such that vorticity is transported from the discontinuity, resulting in the suppression of interfacial shear instabilities. This suppression is potentially beneficial in inertial confinement fusion experiments. The magneto-hydrodynamic limit, however, only applies if the plasma length scales are small in comparison to the length-scales characterizing the problem of interest. This allows effects including charge separation, self-generated electric and magnetic fields and a host of wave phenomena to be neglected. In the present work, the influence of finite plasma length-scales on shock interactions in magnetized and unmagnetised plasmas is explored computationally.