Measurement of ion acceleration and diffusion in a laser-driven magnetized plasma

J. T. Y. Chu; J. W. D. Halliday; C. Heaton; K. Moczulski; A. Blazevic; D. Schumacher; M. Metternich; H. Nazary; C. D. Arrowsmith; A. R. Bell; K. A. Beyer; A. F. A. Bott; T. Campbell; E. Hansen; D. Q. Lamb; F. Miniati; P. Neumayer; C. A. J. Palmer; B. Reville; A. Reyes; S. Sarkar; A. Scopatz; C. Spindloe; C. B. Stuart; H. Wen; P. Tzeferacos; R. Bingham; G. Gregori

arXiv · 2509.07880

Measurement of ion acceleration and diffusion in a laser-driven magnetized plasma

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Abstract

Here we present results from an experiment performed at the GSI Helmholtz Centre for Heavy Ion Research. A mono-energetic beam of chromium ions with initial energies of $\sim 450$ MeV was fired through a magnetized interaction region formed by the collision of two counter-propagating laser-ablated plasma jets. While laser interferometry revealed the absence of strong fluid-scale turbulence, acceleration and diffusion of the beam ions was driven by wave-particle interactions. A possible mechanism is particle acceleration by electrostatic, short scale length kinetic turbulence, such as the lower-hybrid drift instability.

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J. T. Y. Chu, J. W. D. Halliday, C. Heaton, K. Moczulski, A. Blazevic, D. Schumacher, M. Metternich, H. Nazary, C. D. Arrowsmith, A. R. Bell, K. A. Beyer, A. F. A. Bott, T. Campbell, E. Hansen, D. Q. Lamb, F. Miniati, P. Neumayer, C. A. J. Palmer, B. Reville, A. Reyes, S. Sarkar, A. Scopatz, C. Spindloe, C. B. Stuart, H. Wen, P. Tzeferacos, R. Bingham, G. Gregori. 2025-09-09. Measurement of ion acceleration and diffusion in a laser-driven magnetized plasma. https://arxiv.org/abs/2509.07880

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