Simulation and Investigation of Weibel Instability for LWFA and PWFA Electron Beams

Weibel instability (or current filamentation instability) is of central importance for relativistic beams in plasmas for the laboratory, ex. fast-igniter concept for inertial confinement fusion, and astrophysics, ex. cosmic jets. Simulations, with the particle-in-cell code QuickPic, of beams produced by Laser Wakefield and RF accelerators show the appearance of Weibel instability. The appearance of the instability is investigated as a function of electron beam parameters (including charge, transverse size and length) and plasma parameters (density and length). We present preliminary simulation results, discuss further simulation refinements, suggest criteria and threshold parameters for observing the presence of Weibel and outline potential future experiments.