Hybrid simulation of shock interaction with highly nonuniform plasmas

Abstract

The impact of capsule imperfections is one of the challenges in achieving reproducible, high-gain ignition of inertial confinement fusion (ICF). The nonuniformities of capsule imperfections, which create instability seeds during the shock propagation, may cause significant performance degradation. A systematic study of the propagation of collisional shock wave in highly nonuniform plasmas is carried out using a hybrid fluid-PIC code, which enables the analysis of electromagnetic fields, ion mixing, and plasma viscosity self-consistently. During shock propagation, it interacts with multiple bubbles and significant material mixing in the nonuniform plasmas are observed. Consequently, the average viscosity of the post-shock plasma in the nonuniform case increases to $1\sim 2$ times that of the uniform case. These results provide a better understanding of the possible influence of capsule imperfections in ICF implosions.

Keywords

• shock wave
• nonuniform plasmas
• ion kinetic effects
• ion mixing