Stable And Confined Burn In A Revolver Ignition Capsule

The main burn phase physics in a Revolver ignition capsule is analyzed and found to exhibit a new feature where pusher stagnation is persistent and burn occurs with the fuel at a fixed volume. The pressure and density gradients at the fuel-pusher interface are both positive making it stable to Rayleigh-Taylor growth. Expansion cooling and RT mixing are absent from the Revolver burn during this time. The effect is due to the massive heavy metal pusher shell being compressed during implosion and heated on an inner layer by the Marshak wave. The pusher is driven to a higher pressure than the DT fuel and becomes a fuel confining shell starting at stagnation and continuing past the time of peak burn. This period of persistent stagnation lasts for approximately 100 ps (in the baseline design) with a fuel burnup during stagnation of 40%. This behavior does not occur in any other capsule designs, including the double shell schemes that also employ a heavy metal pusher. Published by AIP Publishing.