Self-generated magnetic field in ablative Rayleigh–Taylor instability

Abstract

Self-generated magnetic fields in single-mode ablative Rayleigh–Taylor instability (ARTI) relevant to the acceleration phase of inertial confinement fusion (ICF) implosions are studied via two dimensional simulations. In ARTI, ∼100 T magnetic fields can be generated via the Biermann battery source without considering the Nernst effect. The Nernst effect significantly compresses the magnetic field against the electron temperature gradient and amplifies the peak value by more than three times. A scaling law for the magnetic flux is obtained, and it well predicts the evolution of the magnetic field from linear to deeply nonlinear phases of ARTI. The self-generated magnetic field reduces the ablation near the spike and reduces the width of bubbles by magnetizing the electron heat flows, which results in higher magnitude vorticity inside the bubble and enhances the nonlinear ARTI bubble penetration velocity for short-wavelength modes. The bubble velocity boosting due to self-generated magnetic field indicates the larger impact of the short-wavelength ARTI modes on ICF implosion performance than previously expected.