Dependence of shell mix on feedthrough in direct drive inertial confinement fusion

The mixing of cold, high-density shell plasma with the low-density, hot spot plasma by the Rayleigh-Taylor instability in inertial confinement fusion is experimentally shown to correlate with the calculated perturbation feedthrough from the ablation surface to the inner shell surface. A fourfold decrease in the density of shell material in the mix region of direct drive implosions of gas filled spherical plastic shells having predicted convergence ratios approximately 15 was observed when laser imprint levels were reduced and the initial shell was thicker, corresponding to a reduction in the feedthrough rms level by a factor of 6. Shell mix is also shown to limit the spherical compression of the implosion.