Low-density isolated defects comparison designs using glow discharge polymer and high density carbon capsules

Abstract Hydrodynamic instability seeded by ablator defects in inertial confinement fusion is a key limiting factor for achieving high energy gain. Through high-resolution radiation-hydrodynamics simulations, this study comparatively investigates the dynamic evolution of low-density isolated defects within high density carbon (HDC) and glow discharge polymer (GDP/CH) ablators. Compared to HDC, CH exhibits a smaller half-angle of sonic wedge ($\alpha_{HDC} = 25.96^\circ$ and $\alpha_{CH} = 23.71 ^\circ$) and demonstrates negligible growth in bubble penetration depth—attributes arising from reduced baroclinic vorticity generation due to its lower density gradient. Consequently, CH ablators show significantly superior defect tolerance compared to HDC. These results provide important theoretical and numerical insights for evaluating the viability of these materials as ablators for future target designs.