Abstract

Cosmology faces major observational challenges arising from the spatial and temporal scales involved. Analogue experiments that recreate cosmological scenarios in the laboratory offer a valuable means to probe and better understand the current tensions in cosmological models. Here we demonstrate that the experimental evolution of an annular, laser-driven plasma shock wave, expanding over time and undergoing self-interaction gives rise to multiple shock structures that evolve analogously to a multicomponent cosmological universe. Different propagation trajectories along the shock surface correspond to various forms of wCDM cosmologies, enabling the study of scenarios ranging from simple radiation- or matter-dominated universes to those including dark energy. We further show that the dynamics of the Mach stems approximately follows a Hubble-like law. Additionally, perturbations in the shock fronts serve as experimental analogues of cosmological gravitational perturbations in a matter-dominated universe. This work opens experimental pathway using plasmas for classically simulating complex cosmological models, gravitational waves and the evolution of dark energy at macroscopic scales in laboratory.