Why do many large turbofans have a gap (of turbine blades) between the LP turbine and HP turbine? After browsing around a while, I noticed that many...I think almost all...large turbofans have this gap between the LP turbine and HP turbine. I took some screenshots and put a red circle around the gap.



Why do they have this gap? It's certainly not for the combustion chamber. That part comes before the LP turbine. The only thing I can think of is the LP and HP are on different spools so maybe they need some space for the bearings to brace the two shafts. But there should be bearings bracing the shaft all along its length so idk.

I'm guessing it would be more efficient to eliminate this gap and should allow a smooth transition from high pressure to low pressure. At the very least it would save some room at the end of the engine, shortening its length and maybe saving some weight.

EDIT: At first I thought it was totally empty. But it appears that space has stator vanes not shown in the pictures. I'm editing the title with the phrase "gap of turbine blades" because the original spirit of the question was about way there's a big space between the two sets of turbine blades. The space happens to have something else in it, but not turbine blades and I was wondering why those sets are separated.
(Source) Cutaway for the GE9X.

The gap you see is not empty. Marked above is one of the nozzle guide vanes (they have removed most of them for illustration purposes). Those vanes are analogous to the compressor stator stages.*

Labels 91 and 99 below are those vanes—sadly the stators and vanes are almost always omitted from 'drawings', yet they are as important.

(Source) Turbine stages of the RR Trent 500.

The reason why the diameter difference is steeper in the GE compared to the RR, is because the RR Trent 500 is a 3-spool engine.

In short, the vanes in both engines when omitted from drawings, give the illusion of there being a gap (wasted space).



* Nozzle guide vanes have nothing to do with the propelling nozzle at the rear. In turbine lingo, nozzle means the stator stage for the turbine.

On the funny side, here's a thumbnail from RR's own YouTube channel, absolutely bonkers exhaust. Don't trust illustrations.