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  • Letter
  • Open Access

Underdense relativistically thermal plasma produced by magnetically assisted direct laser acceleration

K. Weichman1,2,*, J. P. Palastro1, A. P. L. Robinson3, R. Bingham3,4, and A. V. Arefiev2,5

  • 1Laboratory for Laser Energetics, University of Rochester, Rochester, New York 14623, USA
  • 2Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, University of California at San Diego, La Jolla, California 92093, USA
  • 3Central Laser Facility, STFC Rutherford-Appleton Laboratory, Didcot OX11 0QX, United Kingdom
  • 4Department of Physics, SUPA, University of Strathclyde, Glasgow G4 0NG, United Kingdom
  • 5Center for Energy Research, University of California at San Diego, La Jolla, California 92037, USA

  • *Corresponding author: kweic@lle.rochester.edu
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Phys. Rev. Research 4, L042017 – Published 31 October, 2022

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevResearch.4.L042017

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.

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Phys. Rev. Research 4, L042017– Published 31 October, 2022
  • Received 26 January 2022
  • Revised 5 August 2022
  • Accepted 24 September 2022
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Published by the American Physical Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the published article's title, journal citation, and DOI.

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