Biermann-Battery-Driven Magnetized Collisionless Shock Precursors in Laser-Produced Plasmas
This Letter reports the first complete observation of magnetized collisionless shock precursors formed through the compression of Biermann-battery magnetic fields in laser produced plasmas. At OMEGA, lasers produce a supersonic CH plasma flow which is magnetized with Biermann-battery magnetic fields. The plasma flow collides with an unmagnetized hydrogen gas jet plasma to create a magnetized shock precursor. The situation where the flowing plasma carries the magnetic field is similar to the Venusian bow shock. Imaging 2ω Thomson scattering confirms that the interaction is collisionless and shows density and temperature jumps. Proton radiographs have regions of strong deflections and FLASH magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) simulations show the presence of Biermann fields in the Thomson scattering region. Electrons are accelerated to energies of up to 100 keV in a power-law spectrum. OSIRIS particle-in-cell (PIC) simulations, initialized with measured parameters, show the formation of a magnetized shock precursor and corroborate the experimental observables.
Authors
- P. J. Adrian (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8682-1480)
- J. Katz (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4732-6206)
- F. S. Tsung (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9257-7920)
- S. G. Dannhoff (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1580-6299)
- J. A. Pearcy (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5581-7219)
- H Chen
- B. Lahmann
- Chikang Li (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6919-4881)
- B. L. Reichelt (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8118-606X)
- A. Birkel (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7638-0706)
- T. M. Johnson (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9303-2949)
- M. Cufari (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8429-754X)
- J. H. Kunimune (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7076-5891)
- N. V. Kabadi (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7315-3636)
- G. Rigon (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5666-4725)
- V. T. Tikhonchuk (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7532-5879)
- G. D. Sutcliffe (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3498-8040)
Institutions
- Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (US)
- Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (FR)
- Université de Bordeaux (FR)
- University of California, Los Angeles (US)
- Commissariat à l'Énergie Atomique et aux Énergies Alternatives (FR)
- Energetics (United States) (US)
- Centre Lasers Intenses et Applications (FR)
- Plasma Technology (United States) (US)
- Fusion Academy (US)
- University of Rochester (US)
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology (US)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Physical Review Letters
- Published
- 2025-03-25
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevlett.134.125101
- Primary Topic
- Laser-induced spectroscopy and plasma
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00
Funders
- U.S. Department of Energy
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology
- University of Chicago
- University of Rochester
- National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center
- Office of Science
- National Nuclear Security Administration