Studies of Biermann-battery driven magnetized collisionless shock precursors at OMEGA

ORAL

Abstract

Collisionless shocks are common in the universe. Different types of collisionless shocks can be formed under different circumstances. In this presentation, we report on the first observation of magnetized collisionless shock precursors formed by the compression of Biermann-battery magnetic fields in laser produced plasmas. At OMEGA, a CH plasma flow with frozen-in Biermann fields collides with a hydrogen gas jet to produce a shock precursor. Imaging 2ω Thomson scattering shows that the interaction is collisionless and shows density and temperature jumps. Proton radiography data show strong deflections and FLASH MHD simulations estimate a lower bound on the enhanced magnetic field. This indicates that the precursor is supercritical with MA ∼ 11. Electrons are also accelerated into a power-law spectrum likely by the shock drift acceleration mechanism.

*This is work was supported, in part, by the U.S. Department of Energy NNSA MIT Center-of-Excellence under Contract No. DE-NA0003868 and by the National Laser Users Facility under Contract No. DE-NA0003938.

–

Presenters

  • Tim M Johnson

    • MIT
    • Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Authors

  • Tim M Johnson

    • MIT
    • Massachusetts Institute of Technology

  • Graeme D Sutcliffe

    • Massachusetts Institute of Technology

  • Jacob A Pearcy

    • Massachusetts Institute of Technology

  • Andrew Birkel

    • Massachusetts Institute of Technology

  • Neel V Kabadi

    • University of Rochester

  • Brandon J Lahmann

    • Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory

  • Patrick J Adrian

    • Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)

  • Benjamin Reichelt

    • MIT
    • Massachusetts Institute of Technology

  • Justin H Kunimune

    • Massachusetts Institute of Technology
    • Massachusetts Institute of Technology MI

  • Skylar G Dannhoff

    • Massachusetts Institute of Technology MI

  • Frank S Tsung

    • University of California, Los Angeles

  • Hui A Chen

    • Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
    • LLNL

  • Joseph D Katz

    • Laboratory for Laser Energetics
    • University of Rochester - Laboratory for Laser Energetics
    • University of Rochester

  • Vladimir Tikhonchuk

    • University of Bordeaux

  • Chikang Li

    • Massachusetts Institute of Technology MIT