Observation of Magnetized Soliton Remnants in the Wake of Intense Laser Pulse Propagation through Plasmas

Journal Article · Fri Oct 22 00:00:00 EDT 2010 · Physical Review Letters

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PHYSREVLETT.105.175002· OSTI ID:21467038

Romagnani, L ^[1]; Bigongiari, A; Kar, S; Borghesi, M ^[1]; Bulanov, S V; Esirkepov, T Zh ^[2]; Cecchetti, C A ^[1]; Galimberti, M ^[3]; Jung, R; Osterholz, J; Willi, O ^[4]; Liseykina, T V ^[5]; Macchi, A ^[6]; Pegoraro, F ^[7]

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1. Centre for Plasma Physics, School of Mathematics and Physics, The Queen's University of Belfast, Belfast BT7 1NN (United Kingdom)
2. APRC, JAEA, Kizugawa, Kyoto 619-0215 (Japan)
3. Central Laser Facility, Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, Chilton (United Kingdom)
4. Institut fuer Laser-und Plasmaphysik, Heinrich-Heine-Universitaet, Duesseldorf (Germany)
5. Max-Planck-Institut fuer Kernphysik, Heidelberg (Germany)
6. Istituto Nazionale di Ottica, CNR, Pisa (Italy)
7. Dipartimento di Fisica 'E. Fermi', Universita di Pisa, Pisa (Italy)

Slowly evolving, regularly spaced patterns have been observed in proton projection images of plasma channels drilled by intense (> or approx. 10{sup 19} W cm{sup -2}) short ({approx}1 ps) laser pulses propagating in an ionized gas jet. The nature and geometry of the electromagnetic fields generating such patterns have been inferred by simulating the laser-plasma interaction and the following plasma evolution with a two-dimensional particle-in-cell code and the probe proton deflections by particle tracing. The analysis suggests the formation of rows of magnetized soliton remnants, with a quasistatic magnetic field associated with vortexlike electron currents resembling those of magnetic vortices.

• OSTI ID: 21467038
• Journal Information: Physical Review Letters, Vol. 105, Issue 17; Other Information: DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.105.175002; (c) 2010 American Institute of Physics; ISSN 0031-9007
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY
BEAM-PLASMA SYSTEMS
COMPUTERIZED SIMULATION
ELECTRIC CURRENTS
ELECTROMAGNETIC FIELDS
ELECTRONS
LASER RADIATION
LASERS
MAGNETIC FIELDS
MAGNETIC FLUX
PLASMA
PLASMA JETS
PLASMA SIMULATION
PROTONS
PULSES
SOLITONS
BARYONS
CURRENTS
ELECTROMAGNETIC RADIATION
ELEMENTARY PARTICLES
FERMIONS
HADRONS
LEPTONS
NUCLEONS
QUASI PARTICLES
RADIATIONS
SIMULATION