Self‐consistent stability analysis of ablation fronts with small Froude numbers

The linear growth rate of the Rayleigh–Taylor instability is calculated for accelerated ablation fronts with small Froude numbers (Fr≪1). The derivation is carried out self‐consistently by including the effects of finite thermal conductivity (κ∼T ν) and density gradient scale length (L). It is shown that long‐wavelength modes with wave numbers kL 0≪1 [L 0=νν/(ν+1)ν+1 min(L)] have a growth rate γ≂√A T kg−βkV a , where V a is the ablation velocity, g is the acceleration, A T =1+O[(kL 0)1/ν], and 1