Oxford Centre for High Energy Density Science (OxCHEDS)

Abstract:

One of the important and interesting problems in astrophysics and plasma physics is collimation of plasma jets. The collimation mechanism, which causes a plasma flow to propagate a long distance, has not been understood in detail. We have been investigating a model experiment to simulate astrophysical plasma jets with an external magnetic field [Nishio et al., EPJ. Web of Conferences 59, 15005 (2013)]. The experiment was performed by using Gekko XII HIPER laser system at Institute of Laser Engineering, Osaka University. We shot CH plane targets (3 mm × 3 mm × 10 μm) and observed rear-side plasma flows. A collimated plasma flow or plasma jet was generated by separating focal spots of laser beams. In this report, we measured plasma jet structure without an external magnetic field with shadowgraphy, and simultaneously measured the local parameters of the plasma jet, i.e., electron density, electron and ion temperatures, charge state, and drift velocity, with collective Thomson scattering.

Abstract:

In this work, a self-consistent transport theory for a relativistic plasma is developed. Using the notation of Braginskii [S. I. Braginskii, in Reviews of Plasma Physics, ed. M. A. Leontovich (1965), Vol. 1, p.174], we provide semi-analytical forms of the electrical resistivity, thermoelectric and thermal conductivity tensors for a Lorentzian plasma in a magnetic field. This treatment is then generalized to plasmas with arbitrary atomic number by numerically solving the linearized Boltzmann equation. The corresponding transport coefficients are fitted by rational functions in order to make them suitable for use in radiation-hydrodynamic simulations and transport calculations. Within the confines of linear transport theory and on the assumption that the plasma is optically thin, our results are valid for temperatures up to a few MeV. By contrast, classical transport theory begins to incur significant errors above kBT ~ 10 keV, e.g., the parallel thermal conductivity is suppressed by 15% at kBT = 20 keV due to relativistic effects

Abstract:

The phase retrieval problem occurs in a number of areas in physics and is the subject of continuing investigation. The one-dimensional case, e.g., the reconstruction of the temporal profile of a charged particle bunch, is particularly challenging and important for particle accelerators. Accurate knowledge of the longitudinal (time) profile of the bunch is important in the context of linear colliders, wakefield accelerators and for the next generation of light sources, including x-ray SASE FELs. Frequently applied methods, e.g., minimal phase retrieval or other iterative algorithms, are reliable if the Blaschke phase contribution is negligible. This, however, is neither known a priori nor can it be assumed to apply to an arbitrary bunch profile. We present a novel approach which gives reproducible, most-probable and stable reconstructions for bunch profiles (both artificial and experimental) that would otherwise remain unresolved by the existing techniques.

Abstract:

A model experiment of magnetic field amplification (MFA) via the Richtmyer-Meshkov instability (RMI) in supernova remnants (SNRs) was performed using a high-power laser. In order to account for very-fast acceleration of cosmic rays observed in SNRs, it is considered that the magnetic field has to be amplified by orders of magnitude from its background level. A possible mechanism for the MFA in SNRs is stretching and mixing of the magnetic field via the RMI when shock waves pass through dense molecular clouds in interstellar media. In order to model the astrophysical phenomenon in laboratories, there are three necessary factors for the RMI to be operative: a shock wave, an external magnetic field, and density inhomogeneity. By irradiating a double-foil target with several laser beams with focal spot displacement under influence of an external magnetic field, shock waves were excited and passed through the density inhomogeneity. Radiative hydrodynamic simulations show that the RMI evolves as the density inhomogeneity is shocked, resulting in higher MFA.