Dynamic Stabilization of the Ablative Rayleigh-Taylor Instability for Heavy Ion Fusion

Abstract

Dynamic stabilization of the ablative Rayleigh-Taylor instability of a heavy ion fusion target induced by a beam wobbling system is studied. Using a sharp-boundary model and Courant-Synder theory, it is shown, with an appropriately chosen modulation waveform, that the instability can be stabilized in certain parameter regimes. It is found that the stabilization effect has a strong dependence on the modulation frequency and the waveform.Modulation with frequency comparable to the instability growth rate is the most effective in terms of stabilizing the instability. A modulation with two frequency components can result in a reduction of the growth rate larger than the sum of that due to the two components when applied separately.