N. Woolsey

Generation of scaled protogalactic seed magnetic fields in laser-produced shock waves

The standard model for the origin of galactic magnetic fields is through the amplification of seed fields via dynamo or turbulent processes to the level consistent with present observations. Although other mechanisms may also operate, currents from misaligned pressure and temperature gradients (the Biermann battery process) inevitably accompany the formation of galaxies in the absence of a primordial field. Driven by geometrical asymmetries in shocks associated with the collapse of protogalactic structures, the Biermann battery is believed to generate tiny seed fields to a level of about 10−21 gauss (refs 7, 8). With the advent of high-power laser systems in the past two decades, a new area of research has opened in which, using simple scaling relations, astrophysical environments can effectively be reproduced in the laboratory. Here we report the results of an experiment that produced seed magnetic fields by the Biermann battery effect. We show that these results can be scaled to the intergalactic medium, where turbulence, acting on timescales of around 700 million years, can amplify the seed fields sufficiently to affect galaxy evolution.

Experimental studies of the advanced fast ignitor scheme

Guided compression offers an attractive route to explore some of the physics issues of hot electron heating and transport in the fast ignition route to inertial confinement fusion, whilst avoiding the difficulties associated with establishing the stability of the channel formation pulse. X-ray images are presented that show that the guided foil remains hydrodynamically stable during the acceleration phase, which is confirmed by two-dimensional simulations. An integrated conical compression/fast electron heating experiment is presented that confirms that this approach deserves detailed study.

Laser-driven platform for generation and characterization of strong quasi-static magnetic fields

Quasi-static magnetic-fields up to

Collisionless shock and supernova remnant simulations on VULCAN

800\,

High-Mach number collisionless shock and photo-ionized non-LTE plasma for laboratory astrophysics with intense lasers

T are generated in the interaction of intense laser pulses (

Exotic dense-matter states pumped by a relativistic laser plasma in the radiation-dominated regime

500\,

Laboratory plasma astrophysics simulation experiments using lasers

J,

Image plate response for conditions relevant to laser–plasma interaction experiments

1\,

Space and time resolved measurements of the heating of solids to ten million kelvin by a petawatt laser

ns,

Creation of a uniform high magnetic-field strength environment for laser-driven experiments

10^{17}\,