Laboratory astroparticle physics

Abstract:

Dense cryogenic hydrogen is heated by intense femtosecond infrared laser pulses at intensities of 1015-1016 Wcm-2. Three-dimensional particle-in-cell (PIC) simulations predict that this heating is limited to the skin depth, causing an inhomogeneously heated outer shell with a cold core and two prominent temperatures of about 25 and 40 eV for simulated delay times up to +70 fs after the laser pulse maximum. Experimentally, the time-integrated emitted bremsstrahlung in the spectral range of 8-18 nm was corrected for the wavelength-dependent instrument efficiency. The resulting spectrum cannot be fit with a single temperature bremsstrahlung model, and the best fit is obtained using two temperatures of about 13 and 30 eV. The lower temperatures in the experiment can be explained by missing energy-loss channels in the simulations, as well as the inclusion of hot, non- Maxwellian electrons in the temperature calculation. We resolved the time-scale for laser-heating of hydrogen, and PIC results for laser-matter interaction were successfully tested against the experiment data.

Abstract:

We summarize recent additions and improvements to the high energy density physics capabilities in FLASH, highlighting new non-ideal magneto-hydrodynamic (MHD) capabilities. We then describe 3D Cartesian and 2D cylindrical FLASH MHD simulations that have helped to design and analyze experiments conducted at the Vulcan laser facility. In these experiments, a laser illuminates a carbon rod target placed in a gas-filled chamber. A magnetic field diagnostic (called a Bdot) employing three very small induction coils is used to measure all three components of the magnetic field at a chosen point in space. The simulations have revealed that many fascinating physical processes occur in the experiments. These include megagauss magnetic fields generated by the interaction of the laser with the target via the Biermann battery mechanism, which are advected outward by the vaporized target material but decrease in strength due to expansion and resistivity; magnetic fields generated by an outward expanding shock via the Biermann battery mechanism; and a breakout shock that overtakes the first wave, the contact discontinuity between the target material and the gas, and then the initial expanding shock. Finally, we discuss the validation and predictive science we have done for this experiment with FLASH.