Effects of ionization gradients on inertial-confinement-fusion capsule hydrodynamic stability

A linear perturbation analysis based on velocity potentials is adapted to include the regional, average-ion charge states (Z) in an imploding, inertial-confinement-fusion capsule and shown to lead to superclassical Rayleigh-Taylor growth following deceleration onset. The added instability is ascribed to an inverted ion-entropy gradient driven by the stepwise ionization mismatch DeltaZ across the fuel-pusher interface and is predicted to principally occur in low Atwood-number (<0.5) implosions associated with low-Z pushers. Similar instability enhancement may pertain to supernovae phenomena and ionization fronts in H II protostellar regions.