Converging geometry Rayleigh–Taylor instability and central ignition of inertial confinement fusion targets

The Rayleigh–Taylor instability (RTI) of the inner surface of an inertial confinement fusion shell is studied through high-resolution two-dimensional numerical simulations. The instability is seeded by a mass displacement introduced in the simulations at the end of the implosion coasting stage. Analysis of single-mode, small-amplitude perturbations confirms that ablation caused by electron conduction and fusion alpha-particles causes significant growth reduction of all modes and stabilization of high-l modes. Different measures of the instability are discussed and compared with modified Takabe-like expressions. Large-amplitude multi-mode simulations are performed to study the effects of RTI on ignition and burn. RTI perturbations reduce the size of the central hot spot and delay ignition. For a few different perturbation spectra the dependence of fusion yield on the initial perturbation root mean square amplitude is studied.