The instability mechanisms and mixing enhancement arising from the interaction of a compressible vortex ring with a normal shock wave were studied in a colinear, dual-shock tube. This flow geometry simulates features of the interaction of a shock wave with a jet containing streamwise vorticity, a configuration of significant interest for supersonic combustion applications. Flow visualization and quantitative concentration measurements were performed by planar laser Rayleigh scattering. For a given primary shock strength, interracial instability is more evident in a weak vortex ring than in a stronger vortex ring. In all cases, the identity of the vortex ring is lost after a sufficiently long time of interaction. The probability density function of the mixed fluid changes rapidly from a bimodal distribution to a single peak upon processing by a shock wave. The most probable concentration decreases with time, indicating a rapid increase in mixing and dilution of the vortex fluid. The mixing enhancement is most rapid for the case of a strong vortex ring interacting with a strong shock wave, somewhat slower for a weak vortex ring and a strong shock wave, and significantly slower for the case of a strong vortex ring and a weaker shock wave. These observations are consistent with the earlier numerical predictions.