Probing Ultrafast Magnetic-Field Generation by Current Filamentation Instability in Femtosecond Relativistic Laser-Matter Interactions

Abstract

We present experimental measurements of the femtosecond time-scale generation of strong magnetic-field fluctuations during the interaction of ultrashort, moderately relativistic laser pulses with solid targets. These fields were probed using low-emittance, highly relativistic electron bunches from a laser wakefield accelerator, and a line-integrated $B$-field of $2.70\pm 0.39\mathrm{kT}\mu \mathrm{m}$ was measured. Three-dimensional, fully relativistic particle-in-cell simulations indicate that such fluctuations originate from a Weibel-type current filamentation instability developing at submicron scales around the irradiated target surface, and that they grow to amplitudes strong enough to broaden the angular distribution of the probe electron bunch a few tens of femtoseconds after the laser pulse maximum. Our results highlight the potential of wakefield-accelerated electron beams for ultrafast probing of relativistic laser-driven phenomena.

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Cited by in corpus (14)

• Demonstration of a compact plasma accelerator powered by laser-accelerated electron beams
• Staging of High-Gradient Wakefield Accelerators
• Stable and high quality electron beams from staged laser and plasma wakefield accelerators
• Measurements of the growth and saturation of electron Weibel instability in optical-field ionized plasmas
• Weibel instability beyond bi-Maxwellian anisotropy
• Driving positron beam acceleration with coherent transition radiation
• Spatiotemporal dynamics of ultrarelativistic beam-plasma instabilities
• Mapping the self-generated magnetic fields due to thermal Weibel instability
• Electron Weibel instability induced magnetic fields in optical-field ionized plasmas
• Positron acceleration in plasma waves driven by non-neutral fireball beams
• Emittance preservation in advanced accelerators
• Plasma rotation driven by lasers with zero angular momentum
• Experimental evidence of production of directional muons from a laser-wakefield accelerator
• EZ: An Efficient, Charge Conserving Current Deposition Algorithm for Electromagnetic Particle-In-Cell Simulations