Laboratory observation of ion acceleration via reflection off laser-produced magnetized collisionless shocks
Abstract
Fermi acceleration by collisionless shocks is believed to be the primary mechanism to produce high energy charged particles in the Universe,where charged particles gain energy successively from multiple reflections off the shock front.Here,we present the first direct experimental evidence of ion energization from reflection off a supercritical quasi perpendicular collisionless shock,an essential component of Fermi acceleration in a laser produced magnetized plasma. We observed a quasi monoenergetic ion beam with 2,4 times the shock velocity in the upstream flow using time of flight method. Our related kinetic simulations reproduced the energy gain and showed that these ions were first reflected and then accelerated mainly by the motional electric field associated with the shock. This mechanism can also explain the quasi monoenergetic fast ion component observed in the Earth's bow shock.
Keywords
Cite
@article{arxiv.2211.03090,
title = {Laboratory observation of ion acceleration via reflection off laser-produced magnetized collisionless shocks},
author = {Hui-bo Tang and Yu-fei and Hao and Guang-yue Hu and Quan-ming Lu and Chuang Ren and Yu Zhang and Ao Guo and Peng Hu and Yu-lin Wang and Xiang-bing Wang and Zhen-chi Zhang and Peng Yuan and Wei Liu and Hua-chong Si and Chun-kai Yu and Jia-yi Zhao and Jin-can Wang and Zhe Zhang and Xiao-hui Yuan and Da-wei Yuan and Zhi-yong Xie and Jun Xiong and Zhi-heng Fang and Jian-cai Xu and Jing-Jing Ju and Guo-qiang and Zhang and Jian-Qiang Zhu and Bai-fei Shen and Ru-xin Li and Zhi-zhan Xu},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2211.03090},
year = {2023}
}