Hydrodynamic perturbation growth in the start-up phase

A simple analytical model is presented to study hydrodynamic perturbation g rowth in the start-up phase in laser fusion, namely propagation of a ripple d shock driven by non-uniform laser ablation induced by initial target roug hness or non-uniform laser irradiation. These perturbation growths are very important because they seed the Rayleigh-Taylor (RF) instability in the su bsequent acceleration and stagnation phases. We investigate temporal evolut ions of the shock front and the ablation surface. In the result, we have fo und that the shock front ripples oscillate and decay in both cases of unifo rm laser irradiation on a target with a rippled surface and non-uniform las er irradiation on a smooth target surface. On the other hand, we obtain tha t there is the asymptotic value of the ablation surface deformation in the former case and the asymptotic growth rate of the ablation surface ripple i n the latter case. Approximate formulas expressing both temporal evolutions of the shock front and the ablation surface are obtained in the weak shock limit. These formulas are also applicable in a relatively strong shock. We also investigate the case of oscillating non-uniform laser irradiation wit h time. The oscillation frequency dependences of the shock front ripple and the growth rate of the ablation surface ripple are discussed. (C) 1999 Els evier Science S.A. All rights reserved.