A plasma solenoid driven by an Orbital Angular Momentum laser beam

Abstract

A tens of Tesla quasi-static axial magnetic field can be produced in the interaction of a short intense laser beam carrying an Orbital Angular Momentum with an underdense plasma. Three-dimensional "Particle In Cell" simulations and analytical model demonstrate that orbital angular momentum is transfered from a tightly focused radially polarized laser beam to electrons without any dissipative effect. A theoretical model describing the balistic interaction of electrons with laser shows that particles gain angular velocity during their radial and longitudinal drift in the laser field. The agreement between PIC simulations and the simplified model identifies routes to increase the intensity of the solenoidal magnetic field by controlling the orbital angular momentum and/or the energy of the laser beam.

References in corpus (4)

• Giga-Gauss scale quasistatic magnetic field generation in an 'escargot' target
• Inverse Faraday Effect driven by Radiation Friction
• Modelling arbitrarily shaped and tightly focused laser pulses in electromagnetic codes
• Magnetization of laser-produced plasma in a chiral hollow target

Cited by in corpus (5)

• Kinetic plasma waves carrying orbital angular momentum
• Electron Acceleration Using Twisted Laser Wavefronts
• Efficient generation of axial magnetic field by multiple laser beams with twisted pointing directions
• Magnetic field amplification in a laser-irradiated thin foil by return current electrons carrying orbital angular momentum
• Angular momentum gain by electrons under action of intense structured light