Characterization of the stability and dynamics of a laser-produced plasma expanding across strong magnetic field

TL;DR

This study uses large-scale 3D magneto-hydrodynamic simulations to analyze how laser-produced plasmas behave when expanding into strong magnetic fields, revealing confinement effects and instability-driven dynamics.

Contribution

It provides new insights into plasma stability and dynamics under strong magnetic fields through detailed simulations, highlighting the role of instabilities and initial conditions.

Findings

Plasma is confined into a slender slab by the magnetic field.

Magnetized Rayleigh-Taylor instability structures the plasma.

Initial velocity perturbations can cause kink-like disruptions.

Abstract

Magnetized laser-produced plasmas are central to many new studies in laboratory astrophysics, inertial confinement fusion, and industrial applications. Here we present the results of large-scale, three-dimensional magneto-hydrodynamic simulations of the dynamics of a laser-produced plasma expanding into a transverse magnetic field with a strength of tens of Tesla. The simulations show the plasma is confined by the strong magnetic field into a slender slab structured by the magnetized Rayleigh-Taylor instability that develops at the plasma-vacuum interface. We find that by perturbing the initial velocity of the plume the slab can develop kink-like motion which disrupts its propagation.