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Ultrafast optical field–ionized gases—A laboratory platform for studying kinetic plasma instabilities

Journal Article · · Science Advances
 [1];  [2];  [2];  [2];  [2];  [2]
  1. Univ. of California, Los Angeles, CA (United States); DOE/OSTI
  2. Univ. of California, Los Angeles, CA (United States)
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Kinetic instabilities arising from anisotropic electron velocity distributions are ubiquitous in ionospheric, cosmic, and terrestrial plasmas, yet there are only a handful of experiments that purport to validate their theory. It is known that optical field ionization of atoms using ultrashort laser pulses can generate plasmas with known anisotropic electron velocity distributions. Here, we show that following the ionization but before collisions thermalize the electrons, the plasma undergoes two-stream, filamentation, and Weibel instabilities that isotropize the electron distributions. The polarization-dependent frequency and growth rates of these kinetic instabilities, measured using Thomson scattering of a probe laser, agree well with the kinetic theory and simulations. Thus, we have demonstrated an easily deployable laboratory platform for studying kinetic instabilities in plasmas.
Research Organization:
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States). National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center (NERSC); University of California, Los Angeles, CA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
National Science Foundation (NSF); US Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR); US Department of the Navy, Office of Naval Research (ONR); USDOE Office of Science (SC)
Grant/Contract Number:
SC0010064
OSTI ID:
1577697
Journal Information:
Science Advances, Journal Name: Science Advances Journal Issue: 9 Vol. 5; ISSN 2375-2548
Publisher:
AAASCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

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