Self-consistent analytical model of the Rayleigh-Taylor instability in inertial confinement fusion

The model presented overcomes past inconsistencies by applying matching asymptotic techniques. The obtained growth rate, γ≈α(k)√kg-2kνₐ (where νₐ is the ablation velocity), could reproduce numerical simulations and experiments in a more complete way than the Takabe formula [Phys. Fluids 28, 3676 (1985)] γ=0.9√kg-3kνₐ. Here α(k)≡[1-(kkc)ʳ]1/2, represents the stabilization heat conduction effect and the cutoff wave number kc is much smaller than the inverse of the density scale length at the ablation front. Such a rigorously derived stabilization mechanism clarifies many of the numerical, analytical, and simulation results found in the literature.