On the effect of beam widths on the Rayleigh-Taylor instability of ion-driven inertial confinement fusion targets

Abstract

The growth of Rayleigh-Taylor instabilities in heavy-ion-driven spherical inertial confinement fusion (ICF) targets is studied using a simple linear perturbation model. The instability growth at the ablator-pusher interface is shown to be dependent on the width, relative to the target size, of the beams used as the driver. Short-wavelength instability growth at the fuel-pusher interface, with a possible consequent deleterious effect on the thermonuclear performance of the target, is also shown to be dependent on the beam width, indicating that beam-target optimisation studies are necessary.