SELF-CONSISTENT STABILITY ANALYSIS OF ABLATION FRONTS IN INERTIAL CONFINEMENT FUSION

The linear stability analysis of accelerated ablation fronts is carrie d out self-consistently by retaining the effect of finite thermal cond uctivity. Its temperature dependence along with the density gradient s cale length are adjusted to fit the density profiles obtained in the o ne-dimensional simulations. The effects of diffusive radiation transpo rt are included through the nonlinear thermal conductivity (kappa simi lar to T-nu. The growth rate is derived by using a boundary layer anal ysis for Fr much greater than 1 (Fr is the Froude number) and a WKB ap proximation for Fr much less than 1. The self-consistent Atwood number depends on the mode wavelength and the power law index for thermal co nduction. The analytic growth rate and cutoff wave number are in good agreement with the numerical solutions for arbitrary nu > 1. (C) 1996 American Institute of Physics.