Rayleigh-Taylor instabilities (RTI) in inertial confinement fusion implosions are expected to generate magnetic fields. A Hall-MHD model is used to study the field generation by 2D single-mode and multimode RTI in a stratified two-fluid plasma. Self-generated magnetic fields are predicted and these fields grow as the RTI progresses via the $\nabla n_e\times \nabla T_e$ term in the generalized Ohm’s law. Scaling studies are performed to determine the growth of the self-generated magnetic field as a function of density, acceleration, Atwood number, and perturbation wavelength.

• Received 10 November 2011

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.108.165002