Formation of an elongated plasma column by a magnetic confinement of a laser-produced plasma

Abstract

In this article, we present the formation of an elongated plasma column by combining a laser plasma with an external magnetic field. The laser plasma is produced by irradiating solid targets with a focused Nd-glass laser. The targets were placed on the axis of the two, single-turn magnetic coils, which provided a magnetic field up to 500 kg in the target region. The expanding laser plasma is confined by the magnetic field and an elongated and uniform plasma column is formed on the axis of the coils. The plasma column emits strong, soft X-ray radiation. The pinhole photographs show that the plasma column is at least 5 mm long. To study the interaction of the expanding laser plasma with a magnetic field, the laser probing diagnostic was used.

Numerical simulation of plasma implosion due to radiation heating of the inlet-hole walls of a hohlraum target

“…Thus, the calculation confirms an effective magnetic-field influence on the plasma-flow dynamics. The magnetic-field induction of 1 MG corresponds to the data of experiments [11]. For more typical values of the magnetic-field induction, 0.3-0.5 MG, the rate of plasma-flow damping is much lower.…”

Lateral confinement of laser ablation plasma in magnetic field

“…According to this model, the increase in the state of excitation of the plume is due to Joule heating by the induced current density J. Pagano et al [10] also studied the influence of a transverse magnetic field on LPP and found that the forward expansion is reduced and the spectral emission is modified by the magnetic field. Pisarczyk et al [11] studied the flow of much hotter LPP along a strong magnetic field (∼20 T), with the aim of laterally confining the plasma for soft X-ray laser development. A miniature magnetic cusp configuration has also been suggested for confinement of plasma produced by femtosecond laser with a view to increasing the neutron yield [12].…”

Heating and compression of a laser produced plasma in a pulsed magnetic field

“…[4][5][6][7] Magnetic confinement of LPP has been used to form an elongated plasma column for x-ray laser studies. 8,9 There is extensive literature on Z-pinch discharges in LPP for X-ray 10 or extreme ultraviolet radiation sources. 11,12 Here, we report on the inductive heating and magnetic focusing of a LPP during the first few microseconds of ablation plume expansion.…”