Résumé :
Recent advances in high-energy density plasma experiments have made it
possible for the first time to recreate in the laboratory some of the
extreme phenomena that are observed in space: such as compressible
hydrodynamic mixing, magnetic jets and radiation dominated shocks to name
a few. Combined with developments in numerical modelling and the
availability of high-performance computing, we are now beginning to
understand the connections between astrophysical observations and models,
and laboratory experiments. Indeed the goal is to produce scaled
experiments of complex astrophysical phenomena which are complementary to
astrophysical observations and simulations. The first part of the talk
will broadly introduce the principles of laboratory astrophysics in the
Mega-bar and Mega-Gauss regimes and I will review some of the work that
has been performed on laser and pulsed-power facilities. In the second
part I will discuss our work on jet experiments on such facilities,
including recent work on supersonically rotating jets. In particular I
will present experiments and simulations of the dynamics of curved jets
and new results relevant to the study of magnetically driven,
super-magnetosonic jets. The implications and relevance to astrophysical
models, and future laboratory modelling will be addressed.
