Ablative Rayleigh–Taylor instability (ARTI) and nonlocal heat transport are the critical problems in laser-driven inertial confinement fusion, while their coupling with each other is not completely understood yet. Here the ARTI in the presence of nonlocal heat transport is studied self-consistently for the first time theoretically and by using radiation hydrodynamic simulations. It is found that the nonlocal heat flux generated by the hot electron transport tends to attenuate the growth of instability, especially for short wavelength perturbations. A linear theory of the ARTI coupled with the nonlocal heat flux is developed, and a prominent stabilization of the ablation front via the nonlocal heat flux is found, in good agreement with numerical simulations. This effect becomes more significant as the laser intensity increases. Our results should have important references for the target designing for inertial confinement fusion.
This paper investigates the coupling between ablative Rayleigh-Taylor instability (ARTI) and nonlocal heat transport in laser-driven inertial confinement fusion. The study finds that nonlocal heat flux generated by hot electrons can attenuate the growth of ARTI, especially for short wavelength perturbations. A linear theory is developed, and simulations show significant stabilization of the ablation front via nonlocal heat flux, which becomes more prominent at higher laser intensities.