Interplay between the Weibel instability and the Biermann battery in realistic laser-solid interactions

Shukla, N. and Schoeffler, K. and Boella, E. and Vieira, J. and Fonseca, R. and Silva, L. O. (2020) Interplay between the Weibel instability and the Biermann battery in realistic laser-solid interactions. Physical Review Research, 2 (2). ISSN 2643-1564

[thumbnail of 1907.10433]
Text (1907.10433)
1907.10433.pdf - Accepted Version
Available under License Creative Commons Attribution.

Download (3MB)

Abstract

Our setup allows the Weibel instability and its interplay with the Biermann battery to be probed in laser-driven collisionless plasmas. Ab initio particle-in-cell simulations of the interaction of short ( ≤ 1 ps ) intense ( a 0 ≥ 1 ) laser pulses with overdense plasma targets show observable Weibel generated magnetic fields. This field strength surpasses that of the Biermann battery, usually dominant in experiments, as long as the gradient scale length is much larger than the local electron inertial length; this is achievable by carefully setting the appropriate gradients in the front of the target, e.g., by tuning the delay between the main laser pulse and the prepulse.

Item Type:
Journal Article
Journal or Publication Title:
Physical Review Research
ID Code:
143945
Deposited By:
Deposited On:
12 May 2020 12:30
Refereed?:
Yes
Published?:
Published
Last Modified:
21 Sep 2023 02:54