Modeling the interactions of multiple voids in Inertial Confinement Fusions Implosions

Hollow, nearly spherical capsule imperfections (otherwise known as “voids”) in high-density-carbon ablators may be one of the sources of significant degradations in inertial confinement fusion (ICF) implosions. The size and depth (from the outer ablator surface) of individual voids can lead to multiple effects; from no apparent effect, to jetting of ablator material into the hot spot at stagnation, to increased interface mixing. Previous work investigating the correlation between observed voids and additional x-ray mixing [1,2] assumes these voids do not interact with each other. This work examines this assumption using 2D and 3D HYDRA [3] simulations to quantify the interaction lengths and effects on ICF implosions for multiply interacting voids. Finally, we will show the results of 3D simulations initialized with void measurements taken by target fabrication to compare with experimental observations.

[1] A. B. Zylstra, et al., Phys. of Plasmas 27, 092709 (2020)

[2] A. Pak, et al., 62nd Annual Meeting of the APS Division of Plasma Physics, Volume 65, Number 11 (2020)

[3] M. M. Marinak, et al., Phys. Plasmas 8, 2275 (2001)