Nonlinear evolution of the ablative Rayleigh-Taylor instability with preheating

Abstract

Evolution of the single-mode ablative Rayleigh-Taylor instability in the presence of preheating is investigated numerically. It is found that the instability evolution depends strongly on the preheating length $L$ in front of the ablation-front interface. For weak preheating ($L/L_{\rm SH}\leq f_0$, where $L_{\rm SH}$ is the Spitzer-Harm length and $f_0\sim 20$ is a critical value), the linear growth rate has a sharp maximum and a secondary spike-bubble structure is generated. Interaction of this growing structure with the master spike-bubble leads to rupture of the latter. However, for strong preheating ($L/L_{\rm SH}>20$), the linear growth rate has no sharp maximum and no secondary spike-bubble is generated. Instead, the master spike-bubble evolves into an elongated jet. These results are interpreted in terms of the evolution and interaction of the instability-generated harmonic modes.