J.J. Santos, M. Bailly-Grandvaux, M. Ehret, A. Arefiev, D. Batani, F.N. Beg, A. Calisti, S. Ferri, R. Florido, P. Forestier-Colleoni, S. Fujioka, M.A. Gigosos, L. Giuffrida, L. Gremillet, J.J. Honrubia, S. Kojima, Ph. Korneev, K.F.F. Law, J.-R. Marques, A. Morace, C. Mosse, O. Peyrusse, S. Rose, M. Roth, S. Sakata, G. Schaumann, F. Suzuki-Vidal, V.T. Tikhonchuk, T. Toncian, N. Woolsey, and Z. Zhang, "Laser-driven strong magnetostatic fields with applications to charged beam transport and magnetized high energy-density physics", Phys. Plasmas 25 056705 (2018).
Powerful nanosecond laser-plasma processes are explored to generate discharge currents of a few 100 kA in coil targets, yielding magnetostatic fields (B-fields) in excess of 0.5 kT. The quasi-static currents are provided from hot electron ejection from the laser-irradiated surface. According to our model, which describes the evolution of the discharge current, the major control parameter is the laser irradiance Ilasλ2las. The space-time evolution of the B-fields is experimentally characterized by high-frequency bandwidth B-dot probes and proton-deflectometry measurements. The magnetic pulses, of ns-scale, are long enough to magnetize secondary targets through resistive diffusion. We applied it in experiments of laser-generated relativistic electron transport through solid dielectric targets, yielding an unprecedented 5-fold enhancement of the energy-density flux at 60 μm depth, compared to unmagnetized transport conditions. These studies pave the ground for magnetized high-energy density physics investigations, related to laser-generated secondary sources of radiation and/or high-energy particles and their transport, to high-gain fusion energy schemes, and to laboratory astrophysics.
