contact which itself cannot support a tangential velocity jump in the presence of a non-parallel magnetic field. The magnetic field within the singular wedge is finite and the shock-induced change in tangential velocity across the wedge is supported by the expansion fans that form part of the compound waves or follow the rotational discontinuities. To verify these findings, an approximate leading order asymptotic solution appropriate for both flow structures was computed. The full and asymptotic solutions are compared quantitatively and there is shown to be excellent agreement between the two. vi Contents Contents vi List of Figures x List of Tables xix

We report on experiments to measure the shock-induced growth of sinusoidal perturbations on thick interfaces separating two gases of different densities. The results show that the growth rates are reduced as the interface thickness is increased. A model that accounts for the growth rate reduction caused by the presence of a finite density gradient on the interface is proposed and good agreement is obtained with the experimental results.

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