Cylindrical effects on magneto-Rayleigh-Taylor instability

Abstract

Summary form only given. This paper concentrates on the effects of cylindrical geometry on the magneto-Rayleigh-Taylor instability (MRT), a major concern in the magnetized liner inertial fusion concept (MagLIF) [1]. Several issues are being studied, such as the Bell-Plesset effect [2], the effects of magnetic shear and feedthrough [3], and the nonzero MRT growth rate that remains (but was hardly noticed) in the k = m = 0 limit in Harris' seminal paper on a cylindrical liner [4], where k and m are respectively the azimuthal and axial wavenumber. In liner implosions, such as those for MagLIF, significant magnetic shear can be present and feedthrough of MRT during compression can introduce unwanted fuel mix. We shall use recent simulation and experimental results [5] to compare with direct integration of the eigenvalue equation to investigate the importance of the cylindrical geometry in liner implosions. These analytic results may provide a parametric design in optimizing such parameters as the liner aspect ratio and magnetic field configuration.