Collective Thomson scattering in non-equilibrium laser produced two-stream plasmas

TL;DR

This paper explores the use of collective Thomson scattering to diagnose non-equilibrium two-stream plasmas, combining theoretical, numerical, and experimental approaches to extend plasma diagnostics beyond traditional equilibrium assumptions.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive analysis of CTS in non-equilibrium plasmas, including theoretical calculations, numerical simulations, and experimental development for laboratory astrophysics applications.

Findings

Feasibility of diagnosing two-stream instability via CTS

Numerical simulations support non-equilibrium CTS analysis

Experimental setup developed for laboratory astrophysics

Abstract

We investigate collective Thomson scattering (CTS) in two-stream non-equilibrium plasmas analytically, numerically and experimentally. In laboratory astrophysics, CTS is a unique tool to obtain local plasma diagnostics. While the standard CTS theory assumes plasmas to be linear, stationary, isotropic and equilibrium, it is often nonlinear, non-stationary, anisotropic, and non-equilibrium in high energy phenomena relevant to laboratory astrophysics. We theoretically calculate and numerically simulate the CTS spectra in two-stream plasmas as a typical example of non-equilibrium system in space and astrophysical plasmas. The simulation results show the feasibility to diagnose two-stream instability directly via CTS measurements. In order to confirm the non-equilibrium CTS analysis, we have been developing experimental system with high repetition rate table top laser for laboratory astrophysics.