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Experimental evidence of early-time linear-saturation of the ion-Weibel instability in counterstreaming plasmas

ORAL

Abstract

The ion-Weibel instability is a leading candidate mechanism for the formation of collisionless shocks observed in many astrophysical systems. Experimental and computational studies have shown that the ion-Weibel instability drives current filamentation in counterstreaming plasma flows with the capability to mediate collisionless shock formation and subsequent particle acceleration in the lab. The present work focuses on the study of nonlinear ion-Weibel evolution under various plasma conditions through utilization of different ion species and experimental geometries. Path-integrated B-field distributions are retrieved from experimental proton images and Fourier analyzed to compare with linear theory based on benchmarked radiation-hydrodynamic simulations. The new analyses presented here indicate that the first ~400ps of the collisionless interaction between the two flows dominates the spectral evolution of Weibel filaments, with typical wavelengths of ~300μm and B-field amplitudes of ~1-3T.
 

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Publication: Manuel, M. J.-E. et al. (in prep), "Experimental evidence of early-time linear-saturation of the ion-Weibel instability in counterstreaming plasmas"

Presenters

  • Mario J Manuel

    General Atomics - San Diego

Authors

  • Mario J Manuel

    General Atomics - San Diego

  • Swarvanu Gosh

    University of California San Diego, University of California, San Diego

  • Raghuram Jonnalagadda

    University of California San Diego

  • Farhat N Beg

    University of California San Diego, University of California, San Diego, Center for Energy Research,University of California, San Diego, USA.

  • Marissa B Adams

    University of Rochester

  • Petros Tzeferacos

    University of Rochester

  • Channing M Huntington

    Lawrence Livermore Natl Lab

  • Bruce A Remington

    Lawrence Livermore Natl Lab, LLNL

  • James S Ross

    Lawrence Livermore Natl Lab, LLNL, Lawrence Livermore National Lab

  • Dmitri D Ryutov

    Lawrence Livermore Natl Lab, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory

  • Hong W Sio

    Lawrence Livermore Natl Lab, Lawrence Livermore National Lab

  • George F Swadling

    Lawrence Livermore Natl Lab

  • Scott Wilks

    LLNL, Lawrence Livermore Natl Lab, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory

  • Hye-Sook Park

    Lawrence Livermore Natl Lab, LLNL