Underdense relativistically thermal plasma produced by magnetically assisted direct laser acceleration
Plasma Physics
2022-02-16 v1
Abstract
We introduce the first approach to volumetrically generate relativistically thermal plasma at gas-jet--accessible density. Using fully kinetic simulations and theory, we demonstrate that two stages of direct laser acceleration driven by two laser pulses in an applied magnetic field can heat a significant plasma volume to multi-MeV average energy. The highest-momentum feature is 2D-isotropic, persists after the interaction, and includes the majority of electrons, enabling experimental access to bulk-relativistic, high-energy-density plasma in an optically diagnosable regime for the first time.
Keywords
Cite
@article{arxiv.2202.07015,
title = {Underdense relativistically thermal plasma produced by magnetically assisted direct laser acceleration},
author = {K. Weichman and J. P. Palastro and A. P. L. Robinson and A. V. Arefiev},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2202.07015},
year = {2022}
}