Nonlinear spectrum of the ablative Rayleigh-Taylor instability in laser-accelerated planar plasmas

摘要

A model for the nonlinear spectrum of the ablative Rayleigh-Taylor instability in laser-accelerated planar plasmas has been developed for a wide range of Froude numbers and scale sizes. It is found that the spectrum can be characterized by an inverse power law with spectral index of approximately 2 in the limit of small-wavenumber spectrum cutoffs and small-scale density gradient scale lengths. Comparison of the model spectrum with recent experimental observations is made with good agreement. (c) 2007 American Institute of Physics.