Magneto Rayleigh-Taylor instability growth in magnetically driven cylindrical liners
POSTER
Abstract
The magneto Rayleigh-Taylor (MRT) instability grows in magnetically-driven inertial confinement fusion systems and can limit attainable fuel pressures and fusion yields. Here we analyze MRT in cylindrical liners imploded on the Z Machine at Sandia National Laboratories for a wide range of targets and machine configurations. We show that different trends in the MRT amplitude can be understood using the acceleration history applied to linear and non-linear theories for traditional Rayleigh-Taylor instability growth. The acceleration history is determined using a thin-shell implosion model, which allows us to relate the instability amplitude to driver and target properties, including the peak current, risetime and the initial target radius and aspect ratio.
*Sandia National Laboratories is a multimission laboratory managed and operated by National Technology and Engineering Solutions of Sandia, LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Honeywell International Inc., for the U.S. Department of Energy’s Nuclear Security Administration under contract DE-NA0003525.