Magnetic Reconnection and Plasma Dynamics in Two-Beam Laser-Solid Interactions

Nilson, P. M.; Willingale, L.; Kaluza, Malte C.; Kamperidis, C.; Minardi, Stefano; Wei, M. S.; Fernandes, P. A.; Notley, M.; Bandyopadhyay, S.; Sherlock, M.; Kingham, R. J.; Tatarakis, M.; Najmudin, Z.; Rozmus, W.; Evans, R. G.; Haines, M. G.; Dangor, A.E.; Krushelnick, K.

doi:10.1103/physrevlett.97.255001

Cited by 256 publications

(197 citation statements)

References 22 publications

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“…As the two bubbles expanded laterally and encountered each other with oppositely directed magnetic fields, reconnection took place and the field lines were topologically rearranged in the diffusion region. Later, with the proton radiography technique, Nilson et al (2006) and diagnosed the LDMR, and some striking features were found, such as the collimated jets and magnetic null point in the diffusion region.…”

Section: Outflows Observed During Laser-driven Reconnectionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Review on Current Sheets in CME Development: Theories and Observations

et al. 2015

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We introduce how the catastrophe model for solar eruptions predicted the formation and development of the long current sheet (CS) and how the observations were used to recognize the CS at the place where the CS is presumably located. Then, we discuss the direct measurement of the CS region thickness by studying the brightness distribution of the CS region at different wavelengths. The thickness ranges from 10 4 km to about 10 5 km at heights between 0.27 and 1.16 R from the solar surface. But the traditional theory indicates that the CS is as thin as the proton Larmor radius, which is of order tens of meters in the corona. We look into the huge difference in the thickness between observations and theoretical expectations. The possible impacts that affect measurements and results are studied, and physical causes leading to a thick CS region in which reconnection can still occur at a reasonably fast rate are analyzed. Studies in both theories and observations suggest that the difference between the true value and the apparent value of the CS thickness is not significant as long as the CS could be recognised in observations. We review observations that show complex structures and flows inside the CS region and present recent numerical modelling results on some aspects of these structures. Both observations and numerical experiments indicate that the downward reconnection outflows are usually slower than the upward ones in the same eruptive event. Numerical simulations show that the complex structure inside CS and its temporal behavior as a result of turbulence and the Petschek-type slow-mode shock could probably account for the thick CS and fast reconnection. But whether the CS itself is that thick still remains unknown since, for the time being, we cannot measure the electric current directly in that region. We also review the most recent laboratory experiments of reconnection driven by energetic laser beams, and discuss some important topics for future works.

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Section: Outflows Observed During Laser-driven Reconnectionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Review on Current Sheets in CME Development: Theories and Observations

et al. 2015

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“…To represent the newly formed plasma bubble, which is flatter in the direction of the laser, z, we set L T /L n = 2 (this is a generic choice that appears to be qualitatively consistent with experiments, e.g. [20][21][22] ; note, however, that the specific value of L T /L n depends on target and laser properties and thus can vary). Although this is the initial density, and can in principle change with time, it does not evolve much during our simulations: the density expands at the sound speed c s and all simulations are run with t ≪ L n /c s .…”

Section: Computational Modelmentioning

confidence: 99%

The generation of magnetic fields by the Biermann battery and the interplay with the Weibel instability

et al. 2016

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An investigation of magnetic fields generated in an expanding bubble of plasma with misaligned temperature and density gradients (driving the Biermann battery mechanism) is performed. With gradient scales L, largescale magnetic fields are generated by the Biermann battery mechanism with plasma β ∼ 1, as long as L is comparable to the ion inertial length d i . For larger system sizes, L/d e > 100 (where d e is the electron inertial length), the Weibel instability generates magnetic fields of similar magnitude but with wavenumber kd e ≈ 0.2. In both cases, the growth and saturation of these fields have a weak dependence on mass ratio m i /m e , indicating electron mediated physics. A scan in system size is performed at m i /m e = 2000, showing agreement with previous results with m i /m e = 25. In addition, the instability found at large system sizes is quantitatively demonstrated to be the Weibel instability. Furthermore, magnetic and electric energy spectra at scales below the electron Larmor radius are found to exhibit power law behavior with spectral indices −16/3 and −4/3, respectively.

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“…Although proton probing techniques have mainly been applied to the study of transient electric fields in intense lasermatter interaction, 10,11 particular deflection patterns observed in some experiments have highlighted the presence of large magnetic fields. 12 Recent investigations on magnetic fields in laser-produced plasmas were recently reported by Nilson et al 13 using a similar deflectometry technique with laseraccelerated protons and by Li et al 14 employing protons generated from laser-driven implosions requiring a kilojoule laser driver. In ultrahigh intensity interactions, very large fields ͑Ն10 4 T͒ have been revealed via polarization changes induced on high harmonics; 15 such technique, however, does not allow spatially and temporally resolved field mapping and is not applicable to moderate intensity, ICF-relevant interactions.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Magnetic field measurements in laser-produced plasmas via proton deflectometry

et al. 2009

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Large magnetic fields generated during laser-matter interaction at irradiances of similar to 5 X 10(14) W cm(-2) have been measured using a deflectometry technique employing MeV laser-accelerated protons. Azimuthal magnetic fields were identified unambiguously via a characteristic proton deflection pattern and found to have an amplitude of similar to 45 T in the outer coronal region. Comparison with magnetohydrodynamic simulations confirms that in this regime the (del) over right arrowT(e) X (del) over right arrown(e) source is the main field generation mechanism, while additional terms are negligible. (C) 2009 American Institute of Physics. [DOI: 10.1063/1.3097899

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Magnetic Reconnection and Plasma Dynamics in Two-Beam Laser-Solid Interactions

Cited by 256 publications

References 22 publications

Review on Current Sheets in CME Development: Theories and Observations

Review on Current Sheets in CME Development: Theories and Observations

The generation of magnetic fields by the Biermann battery and the interplay with the Weibel instability

Magnetic field measurements in laser-produced plasmas via proton deflectometry

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