Extensions of a classical mechanics piston-model for understanding the impact of asymmetry on ICF implosions: The cases of mode 2, mode 2/1 coupling, time-dependent asymmetry, and the relationship to coast-time

As long suspected, low mode asymmetry in inertially confined fusion (ICF) implosions has been implicated as a performance limiting factor [Casey et al., Evidence of three-dimensional asymmetries seeded by high-density carbon-ablator nonuniformity in experiments at the national ignition facility, Phys. Rev. Lett. 126, 025002 (2021)]. Recently a non-linear, but solvable, theory [Hurricane et al., An analytic asymmetric-piston model for the impact of mode-1 shell asymmetry on ICF implosions, Phys. Plasmas 27, 062704 (2020)] based upon the simple picture of a pair of asymmetric pistons has generated new insights and provided some practical formulas for estimating the degradation of an implosion due to mode-1 asymmetry and demonstrated a previously unrecognized connection between measured hot-spot drift velocity, nuclear down-scatter ratio asymmetry, and the concept of residual kinetic energy (RKE). Asymmetry of the implosion shell, as opposed to asymmetry of the hot-spot, was key to the classical mechanics model because the majority of the kinetic energy in an implosion is carried by the shell. Herein, the two-piston model is extended to a six-piston model in order to capture mode-2 asymmetry and coupling between mode-1 and mode-2. A key result of this new six-piston model is that the weighted harmonic mean of shell areal density is the fundamental quantity that determines the RKE and performance degradations for a three-dimensional implosion. Agreement is found between the scalings coming from the theory and ICF implosion data from the National Ignition Facility and to large ensembles of detailed simulations. The connection between the piston model's dependence upon the radius of peak velocity and coast-time is also highlighted in this paper. Finally, by extending the two-piston model to include time-dependent swing, it is shown in the Appendix that the shell asymmetry at the time of stagnation dominates the solution for RKE.

Automated summary

It has been discovered that low mode asymmetry in inertially confined fusion (ICF) implosions is a limiting factor for performance. A nonlinear theory based on a simple asymmetric piston model provides formulas for estimating the degradation of an implosion due to mode-1 asymmetry and reveals the relationship between measured hot-spot drift velocity, nuclear down-scatter ratio asymmetry, and residual kinetic energy (RKE). The asymmetry of the implosion shell, rather than the hot-spot, is key in this classical mechanics model.