Towards a New Platform for Magnetized HED Physics*

A developing application of laser-driven currents is in generating magnetic fields of picosecond-nanosecond duration with magnitudes up to \textasciitilde 600T. Single loop and helical coil targets can direct the discharge current along wires to generate spatially-uniform, quasi-static magnetic fields on the millimetre scale. Here, we report on simultaneous proton imaging measurements across both axes of a single loop coil ranging from 1 to 5mm in diameter. Comparison with proton tracking and magnetic models show that fields measured via proton deflectometry are the result of kiloampere currents in the coil and electrostatic charges on the coil surface. We demonstrate how magnetic fields can then be used to engineer states of highly-magnetized matter by studying the dynamics of an exploding foil.