Jet-Like Long Spike in Nonlinear Evolution of Ablative Rayleigh–Taylor Instability

We report the formation of jet-like long spike in the nonlinear evolution of the ablative Rayleigh–Taylor instability (ARTI) experiments by numerical simulations. A preheating model κ(T)=κ_SH1+f(T), where κ_SH is the Spitzer–Härm (SH) electron conductivity and f(T) interprets the preheating tongue effect in the cold plasma ahead of the ablative front Phys. Rev. E 65 (2002) 57401, is introduced in simulations. The simulation results of the nonlinear evolution of the ARTI are in general agreement with the experiment results. It is found that two factors, i.e., the suppressing of ablative Kelvin–Helmholtz instability (AKHI) and the heat flow cone in the spike tips, contribute to the formation of jet-like long spike in the nonlinear evolution of the ARTI.