Tuesday, March 20, 2012

1203.4036 (Quan-Li Dong et al.)

Plasmoid ejection and secondary current sheet generation from magnetic reconnection in laser-plasma interaction    [PDF]

Quan-Li Dong, Shou-Jun Wang, Quan-Ming Lu, Can Huang, Da-Wei Yuan, Xun Liu, Yu-Tong Li, Xiao-Xuan Lin, Hui-Gang Wei, Jia-Yong Zhong, Jian-Rong Shi, Shao-En Jiang, Yong-Kun Ding, Bo-Bin Jiang, Kai Du, Xian-Tu He, M. Y. Yu, C. S. Liu, Shui Wang, Yong-Jian Tang, Jian-Qiang Zhu, Gang Zhao, Zheng-Ming Sheng, Jie Zhang
Reconnection of the self-generated magnetic fields in laser-plasma interaction was first investigated experimentally by Nilson {\it et al.} [Phys. Rev. Lett. 97, 255001 (2006)] by shining two laser pulses a distance apart on a solid target layer. An elongated current sheet (CS) was observed in the plasma between the two laser spots. In order to more closely model magnetotail reconnection, here two side-by-side thin target layers, instead of a single one, are used. It is found that at one end of the elongated CS a fan-like electron outflow region including three well-collimated electron jets appears. The ($>1$ MeV) tail of the jet energy distribution exhibits a power-law scaling. The enhanced electron acceleration is attributed to the intense inductive electric field in the narrow electron dominated reconnection region, as well as additional acceleration as they are trapped inside the rapidly moving plasmoid formed in and ejected from the CS. The ejection also induces a secondary CS.
View original: http://arxiv.org/abs/1203.4036

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