Self-focusing emerges as a nonlinear optical phenomenon resulting from an intense laser field and plasma interaction. This study investigates the self-focusing behavior of Gaussian laser beams within magnetized plasma environments utilizing a novel approach, source-dependent expansion. By employing source-dependent expansion, we explore the intricate dynamics of laser beam propagation, considering the influence of plasma density and external magnetic fields. The interplay between the beam's Gaussian profile and the self-focusing mechanism through rigorous mathematical analysis and numerical simulations, particularly in the presence of plasma-induced nonlinearities are elucidated here. Our findings reveal crucial insights into the evolution of laser beams under diverse parameters, the ponderomotive force, relativistic factors, plasma frequency, polarization states, external magnetic field, wavelength, and laser intensity. This research not only contributes to advancing our fundamental understanding of laser-plasma interactions but also holds promise for optimizing laser-driven applications.
The resonant interaction between three waves in a uniform magnetized plasma is considered. Using the somewhat inaccessible result of the general theory we deduce the explicit expressions for the coupling coefficients of a cold magnetized two-component plasma.
Propagation of right-hand circularly polarized laser into highly magnetized over-dense collisional plasma is analytically studied from basic equations. Highly magnetized plasma with density of 10^23 cm^-3 is efficiently heated from 100 eV to 1 keV within depth of around 20 μ{m} in one nanosecond by Nd:YAG laser with moderate irradiance of around 10^14 Wcm^-2.
The low-frequency instability of a magnetized plasma column and the anomalous radial plasma convection are shown to be linked with the existence of a radial cross-field current along a plasma channel rotating around the central magnetized plasma. The direct observation of the rotating plasma is obtained using an ultra-fast intensified camera. The ionizing electrons injected along the axis of the plasma column contribute to the accumulation of negative charges when the axial collector is at floating potential. The required neutrality leads to the continuous radial expulsion of energetic electro…
Hamiltonian formulations of quasilinear theory are presented for the cases of uniform and nonuniform magnetized plasmas. First, the standard quasilinear theory of Kennel and Engelmann (1966) is reviewed and reinterpreted in terms of a general Hamiltonian formulation. Within this Hamiltonian representation, we present the transition from two-dimensional quasilinear diffusion in a spatially uniform magnetized background plasma to three-dimensional quasilinear diffusion in a spatially nonuniform magnetized background plasma based on our previous work Brizard_Chan (2001,2004). The resulting quasil…
Multi species turbulence in inhomogeneous magnetised plasmas is found to exhibit symmetry breaking in the dynamical alignment of a third species with the fluctuating electron density and vorticity with respect to the magnetic field direction and the species' relative background gradients. The possibility of truly chiral aggregation of charged molecules in magnetized space plasma turbulence is discussed.
The spectrum of electromagnetic waves propagating in a strongly coupled magnetized fully ionized hydrogen plasma is found. The ion motion and damping being neglected, the influence of the Coulomb coupling on the electromagnetic spectrum is analyzed.
A charged particle moving through a plasma experiences a friction force that commonly acts antiparallel to its velocity. It was recently predicted that in strongly magnetized plasmas, in which the plasma particle gyro-frequency exceeds the plasma frequency, the friction also includes a transverse component that is perpendicular to both the velocity and Lorentz force. Here, this prediction is confirmed using molecular dynamics simulations, and it is shown that the relative magnitude of the transverse component increases with plasma coupling strength. This result influences single particle motio…
A solution to the Boltzmann equation is obtained for a magnetized plasma with non-degenerate electrons and ions by Chapman-Enskog method. To obtain an approximate solution, the Sonine polynomials up to the third-order approximation are used. Fully ionized plasma is considered. We obtained more accurately the components for the diffusion, thermal diffusion and diffusion thermoeffect tensors in comparison with previous publications on this subject.
In this paper, we obtain the dispersion relation for the lower-hybrid oscillations/waves in a cold magnetized electron-positron-ion (e-p-i) plasma. It is found that the frequency of the lower-hybrid oscillations in an e-p-i plasma is approximate $1/\sqrt{3}$ times the frequency of lower-hybrid oscillations in an electron-ion (e-i) plasma, provided the plasma density is high, and the equilibrium densities of the positron and the ion are balanced. The present work may have some relevance for laboratory/astrophysical e-p-i plasmas.
The current-driven electrostatic ion-cyclotron (EIC) instability is studied in presence of a transverse dc electric fields in a collisional magnetized dusty plasma. We derive the appropriate charging equation self consistently by using the Vlasov equation.
We present experimental data providing evidence for the formation of transient ($\sim 20~μ$s) plasmas that are simultaneously weakly magnetized (i.e., Hall magnetization parameter $ωτ> 1$) and dominated by thermal pressure (i.e., ratio of thermal-to-magnetic pressure $β> 1$). Particle collisional mean free paths are an appreciable fraction of the overall system size. These plasmas are formed via the head-on merging of two plasmas launched by magnetized coaxial guns. The ratio $λ_{gun}=μ_0 I_{gun}/ψ_{gun}$ of gun current $I_{gun}$ to applied magnetic flux $ψ_{gun}$ is an experimental knob for e…
A 1D2V open boundary Vlasov-Ampere code has been implemented with the aim of making a detailed investigation of the propagation of finite amplitude electromagnetic disturbances in an inhomogeneous magnetized plasma. The code is being applied to study the propagation of an externally driven electromagnetic signal, localized at one boundary of the integration interval, through a given equilibrium plasma configuration with inhomogeneous plasma density and magnetic field.
Topological Langmuir-Cyclotron Wave (TLCW) is a recently identified topological surface excitation in magnetized plasmas. We show that TLCW originates from the topological phase transition at the Langmuir wave-cyclotron wave resonance. By isofrequency surface analysis and 2D and 3D time-dependent simulations, we demonstrate that the TLCW can propagate robustly along complex phase transition interfaces in a unidirectional manner and without scattering. Because of these desirable features, the TLCW could be explored as an effective mechanism to drive current and flow in magnetized plasmas. The a…
Magnetothermodynamics (MTD) is the study of compression and expansion of magnetized plasma with an eye towards identifying equations of state for magneto-inertial fusion experiments. We present recent results from SSX experiments on the thermodynamics of compressed magnetized plasmas. In these experiments, we generate twisted flux ropes of magnetized, relaxed plasma accelerated from one end of a $1.5~m$ long copper flux conserver, and observe their compression in a closed conducting boundary installed at the other end. Plasma parameters are measured during compression. The instances of ion hea…
An expression for the internal energy of a fluid element in a weakly coupled, magnetized, anisotropic plasma is derived from first principles. The result is a function of entropy, particle density and magnetic field, and as such plays the role of a thermodynamic potential: it determines in principle all thermodynamic properties of the fluid element. In particular it provides equations of state for the magnetized plasma. The derivation uses familiar fluid equations, a few elements of kinetic theory, the MHD version of Faraday's law, and certain familiar stability and regularity conditions.
Low frequency longitudinal wave instability in magnetized high correlation dusty plasmas is investigated. The dust charging relaxation is taken into account. It is found that the instablity of wave is determined significantly by the frequency of wave, the dust charging relaxation, the shear viscosity and viscoelastic relaxation time, the coupling parameter of high correlation of dust as well the strength of magnetic field.
Laser produced high-energy-density plasmas may contain strong magnetic fields that affect the energy transport, which can be nonlocal. Models which describe the magnetized nonlocal transport are formally complicated and based on many approximations. This paper presents a more straightforward approach to the description of the electron transport in this regime, based on the extension of a reduced entropic model. The calculated magnetized heat fluxes are compared with the known asymptotic limits and applied for studying of a magnetized nonocal plasma thermalization.
A new physical mechanism of the parallel acceleration of a turbulent magnetized plasma is discovered by using a Fokker-Planck phase space stochastic transport equation. It is found that the random walk of a charged particle is correlated with the random change of the parallel velocity due to the radial electric field and the magnetic moment conservation. This correlation leads to a parallel acceleration of the plasma with a finite parallel fluid flow.
The radial characteristic of a partially magnetized plasma column created by a hot cathode filament is presented. It is found that in the absence of magnetic field, plasma potential and density varies similarly according to Boltzmann distribution. However as the magnetic field increases, a clear divergence is seen as plasma density becomes more pronounced in the centre whereas a corresponding minima is observed in plasma potential; thus limiting the radial diffusion of positive ions towards the grounded sidewalls. A phenomenological model based on short-circuiting effect is developed, which fa…
Temporal evolution of the inhomogeneous energy density driven instability (IEDDI) is examined in presence of a nonuniform transverse dc electric field in collisional magnetized plasma cylinder. Using experimentally known parameters relevant to IEDDI, we have estimated the growth rate for $ν$=1, 2 and 3 nonlocal eigenmodes.
The hall current in the periphery of a filamentary plasma with the inwardly directed radial electric field, Er has been investigated experimentally by utilizing a TPD type dc discharge. When the cusp magnetic filed B$θ$ is applied perpendicular to the stationary background magnetic field Bz, the hall current by the ErxB$θ$ drift of electrons is induced in the periphery of the magnetized filamentary plasma.
A generalized hydrodynamical model has been used to study low frequency modes in a strongly coupled, cold, magnetized dusty plasma. Such plasmas exhibit elastic properties due to strong correlations among dust particles and the tensile stresses imparted by the magnetic field. It has been shown that longitudinal compressional Alfven modes and elasticity modified transverse shear mode exist in such a medium. The features of these collective modes are established and discussed.
We apply the many-particle quantum hydrodynamics including the Coulomb exchange interaction to magnetized quantum plasmas. We consider a number of wave phenomenon under influence of the Coulomb exchange interaction. Since the Coulomb exchange interaction affects longitudinal and transverse-longitudinal waves we focus our attention to the Langmuir waves, Trivelpiece-Gould waves, ion-acoustic waves in non-isothermal magnetized plasmas, the dispersion of the longitudinal low-frequency ion-acoustic waves and low-frequencies electromagnetic waves at $T_{e}\gg T_{i}$ . We obtained the numerical simu…
It is shown that the transport in low temperature, collisional, bounded plasma is enhanced by instabilities at high magnetic field. While the magnetic field confines the electrons in a stable plasma, the instability completely destroys the confinement such that the transport becomes independent of the magnetic field in the highly magnetized limit. An analytical expression of the instability-enhanced collision frequency is proposed, based on a magnetic field independent edge-to-center density ratio.
We investigate the formation of collisionless magnetized shocks triggered by the interaction between magnetized plasma flows and miniature-sized (order of plasma kinetic-scales) magnetic obstacles resorting to massively parallel, full particle-in-cell simulations, including the electron kinetics. The critical obstacle size to generate a compressed plasma region ahead of these objects is determined by independently varying the magnitude of the dipolar magnetic moment and the plasma magnetization. We find that the effective size of the obstacle depends on the relative orientation between the dip…
Nonlinear axisymmetric cylindrical plasma oscillations in magnetized collisionless plasmas are a model for the electron fluid collapse on the axis behind an ultrashort relativisically intense laser pulse exciting a plasma wake wave. We present an analytical description of the strongly nonlinear oscillations showing that the magnetic field prevents closing of the cavity formed behind the laser pulse. This effect is demonstrated with 3D PIC simulations of the laser-plasma interaction. An analysis of the betatron oscillations of fast electrons in the presence of the magnetic field reveals a chara…
The problem of radio wave reflection from an optically thick plane monotonous layer of magnetized plasma is considered at present work. The plasma electron density irregularities are described by spatial spectrum of an arbitrary form. The small-angle scattering approximation in the invariant ray coordinates is suggested for analytical investigation of the radiation transfer equation. The approximated solution describing spatial-and-angular distribution of radiation reflected from a plasma layer is obtained. The obtained solution can be applied, for example, to the ionospheric radio wave propag…
In this work we introduce, for the first time, as far as we know, a complete self-consist kinetic model for collisional transport in the nonextensive statistics, i.e., the generalization of the ordinary Maxwell-Boltmzann statistics according to the Tsallis entropy. Starting only from the definition of this entropy, we derive the kinetic model, find its solutions for the electrons in a strongly magnetized plasmas, and calculate the respective transport coefficients in order to set the closed fluid equations. The results are further applied to model heat transport in space plasmas and the cold p…
In a two-ion-species plasma with disparate ion masses, heavy ions tend to concentrate in the low-temperature region of collisionally magnetized plasma and in the high-temperature region of collisionally unmagnetized plasma, respectively. Moreover, collisional magnetization can be determined as the ratio of the light ion gyrofrequency to the collision frequency of light and heavy ion species, and the behavior of this effect in the intermediate regime of partially magnetized plasma is predominantly dependent on this Hall parameter. Multi-ion cross-field transport has been described before in the…
In the presence of an external magnetic field, wake fields generated by a short laser pulse can propagate out of the plasma, and thereby provide information about the electron density profile. A method for reconstructing the density profile from a measured wake field spectrum is proposed and a numerical example is given. Finally, we compare our proposal with existing plasma density diagnostic techniques.
Nonlinear ion-acoustic waves are analyzed in a non-relativistic magnetized quantum plasma with arbitrary degeneracy of electrons. Quantum statistics is taken into account by means of the equation of state for ideal fermions at arbitrary temperature. Quantum diffraction is described by a modified Bohm potential consistent with finite temperature quantum kinetic theory in the long wavelength limit. The dispersion relation of the obliquely propagating electrostatic waves in magnetized quantum plasma with arbitrary degeneracy of electrons is obtained. Using the reductive perturbation method, the c…
When turbulent structures split more frequently before they decay, persistent turbulence forms in neutral fluid shear flows. Whether this concept can be extended to linear magnetized plasmas is investigated here and compared to the behavior of the pipe flow. With increasing control parameter the dynamics in the magnetized plasmas is known to undergo several changes from a quasiperiodic to a phase locked to a weakly turbulent regime. When the phase-locked regime breaks down, the splitting time approaches the decreasing lifetime reflecting self-sustained turbulence, as known from the pipe flow.
The power of second harmonic electromagnetic emission is calculated for the case when strong plasma turbulence is excited by a powerful electron beam in a magnetized plasma. It is shown that the simple analytical model of strong plasma turbulence with the assumption of a constant pump power is able to explain experimentally observed bursts of electromagnetic radiation as a consequence of separate collapse events. It is also found that the electromagnetic emission power calculated for three-wave interaction processes occurring in the long-wavelength part of turbulent spectrum is in order-of-mag…
Deposition of thin films that are resistant to aggressive environment conditions, using the High-power impulse magnetron sputtering (HIPIMS) technique, represents a technological challenge. To establish the optimal operating conditions it is desirable to know the lifetime of the magnetized plasma at the end of the pulsed cathode current. The table-top system we developed allows one to measure the lifetime for all operating HiPIMS types, both for short and long pulses, based on the rapid increase of the current when applying a voltage pulse with very short rise time, up to a value which depends…
The friction force on a test particle traveling through a plasma that is both strongly coupled and strongly magnetized is studied using molecular dynamics simulations. In addition to the usual stopping power component aligned antiparallel to the velocity, a transverse component that is perpendicular to both the velocity and Lorentz force is observed. This component, which was recently discovered in weakly coupled plasmas, is found to increase in both absolute and relative magnitude in the strongly coupled regime. Strong coupling is also observed to induce a third component of the friction forc…
Plasmas have been recently studied as topological materials. However, a comprehensive picture of topological phases and topological phase transitions in cold magnetized plasmas is still missing. Here we systematically map out all the topological phases and establish the bulk-edge correspondence in cold magnetized plasmas. We find that for the linear eigenmodes, there are 10 topological phases in the parameter space of density $n$, magnetic field $B$, and parallel wavenumber $k_{z}$, separated by the surfaces of Langmuir wave-L wave resonance, Langmuir wave-cyclotron wave resonance, and zero ma…
We consider backscattering of laser pulses in strongly-magnetized plasma mediated by kinetic magnetohydrodynamic waves. Magnetized low-frequency scattering, which can occur when the external magnetic field is neither perpendicular nor parallel to the laser propagation direction, provides an instability growth rate higher than Raman scattering and a frequency downshift comparable to Brillouin scattering. In addition to the high growth rate, which allows smaller plasmas, and the 0.1-2\% frequency downshift, which permits a wide range of pump sources, MLF scattering is an ideal candidate for ampl…
Terahertz (THz) radiation by beating of two laser beams in a groove density and magnetized hot plasma is discussed theoretically. In this mechanism, the ponderomotive force leads to a nonlinear oscillatory current that resonantly excites THz radiation at the frequency upper hybrid. It is interesting to find that the maximum THz radiation in the various electron temperature, therefore, exited an optimum temperature for the parameters such as beating frequency, transverse distance from lasers beam center and strength of the static magnetic field that THz radiation can be maximized.
A new transverse mode in a two-stream magnetized quantum plasma is studied by means of a quantum hydrodynamic model, under non-relativistic and ideal Fermi gas assumptions. It is found that Fermi pressure effects induce a minimum cutoff wavelength for instability, unlike the classical case which is unstable for larger wavenumbers. The external magnetic field is also shown to produce a stabilizing effect. Conditions for the applicability of the model and specific parameters for experimental observations are thoroughly discussed.
In a new toroidal laboratory plasma device including a poloidal magnetic field created by an internal circular conductor, the confinement efficiency of the magnetized plasma and the turbulence level are studied in different situations. The plasma density is greatly enhanced when a sufficient poloidal magnetic field is established. Moreover, the instabilities and the turbulence usually found in toroidal devices without shear of the magnetic field lines are suppressed when the rotational transform is present. The measurement of the plasma decay time allows to determine the confinement time of th…
Propagation and scattering of lasers present new phenomena and applications when the plasma medium becomes strongly magnetized. With mega-Gauss magnetic fields, scattering of optical lasers already becomes manifestly anisotropic. Special angles exist where coherent laser scattering is either enhanced or suppressed, as we demonstrate using a cold-fluid model. Consequently, by aiming laser beams at special angles, one may be able to optimize laser-plasma coupling in magnetized implosion experiments. In addition, magnetized scattering can be exploited to improve the performance of plasma-based la…
Arched magnetized structures are a common occurrence in space and laboratory plasmas. Results from a laboratory experiment on spatio-temporal evolution of an arched magnetized plasma ($β\approx 10^{-3}$, Lundquist number $\approx 10^{4}$, plasma radius/ion gyroradius $\approx 20$) in a sheared magnetic configuration are presented. The experiment is designed to model conditions relevant to the formation and destabilization of similar structures in the solar atmosphere. The magnitude of a nearly horizontal overlying magnetic field was varied to study its effects on the writhe and twist of the ar…
The properties of obliquely propagating dissipative electron-acoustic solitary waves (OPdEASWs) have been investigated in a magnetized collisional superthermal plasma consisting of inertial cold electrons, inertialess hot electrons featuring kappa-distribution and static ions via the fluid dynamical approach. By using the reductive perturbation technique, a nonlinear Schamel equation that governs the nonlinear features of OPdEASWS is obtained. The solitary wave solution of the Schamel equation is used to examine the basic features of small, but finite amplitude OPdEASWs in such a magnetized co…
Dependencies of levitation position of positively charged fine-particles on plasma parameters are investigated. The charges on the particles become positive in a cross-field sheath between magnetized double plasmas with different potentials separated vertically by horizontal magnetic field, because ion current flowing from a lower high-potential plasma surpasses electron current coming across the magnetic field from an upper low-potential plasma. From measurement of the resonance frequency of the particles driven by external oscillating electric field, the charge on particle is estimated to be…
Strongly magnetizing a plasma adds a range of waves that do not exist in unmagnetized plasmas and enlarges the laser-plasma interaction (LPI) landscape. In this paper, we use particle-in-cell (PIC) simulations to investigate strongly magnetized LPI in one dimension under conditions relevant for magneto-inertial fusion experiments, focusing on a regime where the electron-cyclotron frequency is greater than the plasma frequency and the magnetic field is at an oblique angle with respect to the wave vectors. We show that when electron-cyclotron-like hybrid wave frequency is about half the laser fr…
We identify the desired characteristics and parameters of a beta>1 magnetized plasma, possibly with highly tangled, open field lines, that could be a suitable target to be compressed to fusion conditions by a spherically imploding plasma liner [S. C. Hsu et al., IEEE Trans. Plasma Sci. 40, 1287 (2012)] formed by merging hypersonic plasma jets. This concept is known as plasma-jet-driven magneto-inertial fusion (PJMIF). We set requirements on the target and liner such that (a) compressional heating dominates over thermal transport in the target, and (b) magnetic amplification due to compression …
Large amplitude waves in magnetized plasmas, generated either by external pumps or internal instabilities, can scatter via three-waves interactions. While three-wave scatterings in either forward or backward geometry are well-known, what happens when waves propagate at angles with one another in magnetized plasmas remains largely unknown, mainly due to the analytical difficulty of this problem. In this paper, we overcome this analytical difficulty and find a convenient formula for three-wave coupling coefficients in cold, uniform, magnetized plasmas in the most general geometry. This is achiev…
The problem of radio wave reflection from an optically thick plane monotonous layer of magnetized plasma is considered at present work. The plasma electron density irregularities are described by spatial spectrum of an arbitrary form. The small-angle scattering approximation in the invariant ray coordinates is suggested for analytical investigation of the radiation transfer equation. The approximated solution describing spatial-and-angular distribution of radiation reflected from a plasma layer has been obtained. The obtained solution has been investigated numerically for the case of the ionos…
We report experimental results on the injection of a magnetized plasma jet into a transverse background magnetic field in the HelCat linear plasma device at the University of New Mexico [M. Gilmore et al., J. Plasma Phys. 81, 345810104 (2015)]. After the plasma jet leaves the plasma-gun muzzle, a tension force arising from an increasing curvature of the background magnetic field induces in the jet a sheared axial-flow gradient above the theoretical kink-stabilization threshold. We observe that this emergent sheared axial flow stabilizes the n=1 kink mode in the jet, whereas a kink instability …
A magnetic field was recently shown to enhance field-parallel heat conduction in a strongly correlated plasma whereas cross-field conduction is reduced. Here we show that in such plasmas, the magnetic field has the additional effect of inhibiting the isotropization process between field-parallel and cross-field temperature components thus leading to the emergence of strong and long-lived temperature anisotropies when the plasma is locally perturbed. An extended heat equation is shown to describe this process accurately.
A first-principle study of diffusion in a strongly coupled one-component plasma in a magnetic field B is presented. As in a weakly coupled plasma, the diffusion coefficient perpendicular to the field exhibits a Bohm-like 1/B-behavior in the strong-field limit, but its overall scaling is substantially different. The diffusion coefficient parallel to the field is strongly affected by the field as well and also approaches a 1/B scaling, in striking contrast to earlier predictions.
We analyze probe data obtained from a toroidal magnetized plasma configuration suitable for studies of low-frequency gradient-driven instabilities. These instabilities give rise to field-aligned convection rolls analogous to Rayleigh-Benard cells in neutral fluids, and may theoretically develop similar routes to chaos. When using mean-field dimension analysis, we observe low dimensionality, but this could originate from either low-dimensional chaos, periodicity or quasi-periodicity. Therefore, we apply recurrence plot analysis as well as estimation of the largest Lyapunov exponent. These analy…
Stratification due to ion-ion friction in a magnetized multiple-ion species plasma is shown to be accompanied by a heat pump effect, identified for the first time here, transferring heat from one ion species to another as well as from one region of space to another. The heat pump is produced via newly identified heating mechanisms associated with charge incompressibility and the Ettingshausen effect. Besides their academic interest, these new effects may have useful applications to plasma technologies that involve rotation or compression.
