Rapid self-magnetization of laser speckles in plasmas by nonlinear anisotropic instability

Presented here are the first kinetic two-dimensional Vlasov– Fokker–Planck calculations of inertial confinement fusion-related laser–plasma interactions, to include self-consistent magnetic fields, hydrodynamic plasma expansion and anisotropic electron pressure. An underdense plasma, reminiscent of...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Thomas, A, Kingham, R, Ridgers, C
Format: Journal article
Published: IOP Publishing 2009
_version_ 1797098685321969664
author Thomas, A
Kingham, R
Ridgers, C
author_facet Thomas, A
Kingham, R
Ridgers, C
author_sort Thomas, A
collection OXFORD
description Presented here are the first kinetic two-dimensional Vlasov– Fokker–Planck calculations of inertial confinement fusion-related laser–plasma interactions, to include self-consistent magnetic fields, hydrodynamic plasma expansion and anisotropic electron pressure. An underdense plasma, reminiscent of the gas fill of a hohlraum, is heated by a laser speckle with Iλ<sup>2</sup>=1.0×10<sup>15</sup> W cm− <sup>2</sup>μm<sup>2</sup> and radius w<sub>0</sub>=5 μm. Inverse bremsstrahlung absorption of the laser and non-local electron transport lead to the development of a collisional analogue of the Weibel electromagnetic instability. The instability is seeded by magnetic fields, generated in an initial period of linear growth due to the anisotropic electron distribution arising in a laser speckle. Using the circular polarization does not generate significant fields. For linear polarization, the field generally saturates when the magnetization is ωτ<sub>ei</sub>&gt; 1, and the effective growth rate is similar to the coherence time of typical laser speckles. The presence of these magnetic fluctuations significantly affects the heat fluxes and hydrodynamics in the plasma.
first_indexed 2024-03-07T05:13:08Z
format Journal article
id oxford-uuid:dc3fb95b-5056-4709-aa69-f2e1978f70c7
institution University of Oxford
last_indexed 2024-03-07T05:13:08Z
publishDate 2009
publisher IOP Publishing
record_format dspace
spelling oxford-uuid:dc3fb95b-5056-4709-aa69-f2e1978f70c72022-03-27T09:16:24ZRapid self-magnetization of laser speckles in plasmas by nonlinear anisotropic instabilityJournal articlehttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_dcae04bcuuid:dc3fb95b-5056-4709-aa69-f2e1978f70c7Symplectic Elements at OxfordIOP Publishing2009Thomas, AKingham, RRidgers, CPresented here are the first kinetic two-dimensional Vlasov– Fokker–Planck calculations of inertial confinement fusion-related laser–plasma interactions, to include self-consistent magnetic fields, hydrodynamic plasma expansion and anisotropic electron pressure. An underdense plasma, reminiscent of the gas fill of a hohlraum, is heated by a laser speckle with Iλ<sup>2</sup>=1.0×10<sup>15</sup> W cm− <sup>2</sup>μm<sup>2</sup> and radius w<sub>0</sub>=5 μm. Inverse bremsstrahlung absorption of the laser and non-local electron transport lead to the development of a collisional analogue of the Weibel electromagnetic instability. The instability is seeded by magnetic fields, generated in an initial period of linear growth due to the anisotropic electron distribution arising in a laser speckle. Using the circular polarization does not generate significant fields. For linear polarization, the field generally saturates when the magnetization is ωτ<sub>ei</sub>&gt; 1, and the effective growth rate is similar to the coherence time of typical laser speckles. The presence of these magnetic fluctuations significantly affects the heat fluxes and hydrodynamics in the plasma.
spellingShingle Thomas, A
Kingham, R
Ridgers, C
Rapid self-magnetization of laser speckles in plasmas by nonlinear anisotropic instability
title Rapid self-magnetization of laser speckles in plasmas by nonlinear anisotropic instability
title_full Rapid self-magnetization of laser speckles in plasmas by nonlinear anisotropic instability
title_fullStr Rapid self-magnetization of laser speckles in plasmas by nonlinear anisotropic instability
title_full_unstemmed Rapid self-magnetization of laser speckles in plasmas by nonlinear anisotropic instability
title_short Rapid self-magnetization of laser speckles in plasmas by nonlinear anisotropic instability
title_sort rapid self magnetization of laser speckles in plasmas by nonlinear anisotropic instability
work_keys_str_mv AT thomasa rapidselfmagnetizationoflaserspecklesinplasmasbynonlinearanisotropicinstability
AT kinghamr rapidselfmagnetizationoflaserspecklesinplasmasbynonlinearanisotropicinstability
AT ridgersc rapidselfmagnetizationoflaserspecklesinplasmasbynonlinearanisotropicinstability