Magnetic Field Measurements in low Density Plasmas using Paramagnetic Faraday Rotator Glass

POSTER

Abstract

Paramagnetic Faraday rotator glass (rare-earth doped borosilicate) with a high Verdet constant will be used to measure the magnetic field inside of low density Helium plasmas ($T_e$ $\sim$ 5 eV, $T_i$ $\sim$ 1 eV) with a density of n $\sim$ $10^{12}$~cm$^{-3}$. Linearly polarized light is sent through the glass such that the plane of polarization is rotated by an angle that depends on the strength of the magnetic field in the direction of propagation and the length of the crystal (6~mm). The light is then passed into an analyzer and photo-detector setup to determine the change in polarization angle. This setup can detect magnetic fields up to 5 kG with a resolution of $<$ 5 G and a temporal resolution on the order of a nanosecond. The diagnostic will be used to characterize the structure and evolution of laser-driven collisionless shocks in large magnetized plasmas.

Authors

  • Stephen Clark

    • UCLA
    • Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA

  • Derek Schaeffer

    • Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA

  • Erik Everson

    • Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA

  • Anton Bondarenko

    • Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA

  • Carmen Constantin

    • Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA

  • Christoph Niemann

    • Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA

  • Dan Winske

    • Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, New Mexico 87545, USA