Mechanism for magnetic field generation and growth in Rayleigh-Taylor unstable inertial confinement fusion plasmas

Abstract

Rayleigh-Taylor instabilities (RTI) in inertial confinement fusion (ICF) implosions are expected to generate magnetic fields at the gas-ice interface and at the ice-ablator interface. The focus here is on the gas-ice interface where the temperature gradient is the largest. A Hall-MHD model is used to study the magnetic field generation and growth for 2-D single-mode and multimode RTI in a stratified two-fluid plasma, the two fluids being ions and electrons. Self-generated magnetic fields are observed and these fields grow as the RTI progresses via the ∇ne×∇Te term in the generalized Ohm’s law. Srinivasan et al. [Phys. Rev. Lett. 108, 165002 (2012)] present results of the magnetic field generation and growth, and some scaling studies in 2-dimensions. The results presented here study the mechanism behind the magnetic field generation and growth, which is related to fluid vorticity generation by RTI. The magnetic field wraps around the bubbles and spikes and concentrates in flux bundles at the perturbed gas-ice interface where fluid vorticity is large. Additionally, the results of Srinivasan et al. [Phys. Rev. Lett. 108, 165002 (2012)] are described in greater detail. Additional scaling studies are performed to determine the growth of the self-generated magnetic field as a function of density, acceleration, perturbation wavelength, Atwood number, and ion mass.