Kilotesla plasmoid formation by a trapped relativistic laser beam

TL;DR

This paper reports the generation of kilotesla-scale magnetic fields in hollow targets using intense laser pulses, revealing transient plasma structures and regimes of plasmoid evolution through experiments and simulations.

Contribution

It introduces a novel experimental setup for creating highly magnetized plasma structures and analyzes their transient behavior with numerical simulations.

Findings

Magnetic fields up to kilotesla scale observed in experiments.

Identification of fast and slow plasmoid evolution regimes.

Experimental and simulation data show transient magnetic field processes.

Abstract

A strong quasi-stationary magnetic field is generated in hollow targets with curved internal surface under the action of a relativistically intense picosecond laser pulse. Experimental data evidence formation of quasistationary strongly magnetized plasma structures decaying on the hundred picoseconds time scale, with the maximum value of magnetic field strength of the kilotesla scale. Numerical simulations unravel the importance of transient processes during the magnetic field generation, and suggest the existence of fast and slow regimes of plasmoid evolution depending on the interaction parameters. The principal setup is universal for perspective highly magnetized plasma application and fundamental studies.