Synthetic Thomson scattering in 2D and 3D simulations of magnetized collisionless shock experiments at the Omega Laser Facility

Collisionless shocks are commonly observed in a variety of astrophysical plasma environments such as supernova remnants and the Earth’s magnetosphere. Laboratory experiments are an important tool for studying magnetized collisionless shocks as they are highly controlled, reproducible, and allow for more robust sampling compared to in situ spacecraft measurements. To analyze the fundamental nature of these shocks, Schaeffer et al. (2019)* created magnetized collisionless shocks in an experimental campaign at the Omega Laser Facility. This campaign provided the first time-resolved laboratory measurements of electron and ion velocity distributions within magnetized collisionless shock precursors. Here, we further this study by reproducing the experiment using radiation magneto-hydrodynamic code FLASH. We use synthetic Thomson scattering diagnostics to obtain piston velocity, density and temperature measurements and compare these results to direct measurements of the simulation as well as the experimentally derived results from Schaeffer et al. (2019).*

*D. B. Schaeffer et al., “Direct Observations of Particle Dynamics in Magnetized Collisionless Shock Precursors in Laser-Produced Plasmas,” Physical Review Letters, vol. 122, no. 24, Jun. 2019.