Effects of Kilotesla-Level Applied Magnetic Fields on Relativistic Laser-Plasma Interaction*

Ongoing advances in experimental techniques for generating magnetic fields will enable access to previously unexplored regimes in magnetized high-energy-density physics. Strong static magnetic fields, for instance, fundamentally alter the interaction of a relativistically intense laser with a plasma. In this talk, I will present particle-in-cell simulations of a number of common laser-plasma configurations in which diverse and potentially beneficial changes to the plasma dynamics become evident at or below the kilotesla level. In this near-term experimentally realizable regime, the magnetic field acts primarily through the magnetization of hot electrons, which impacts processes such as ion acceleration, direct laser acceleration, and magnetic-field amplification. These findings suggest that applied magnetic fields could improve applications of relativistic laser–plasma interactions, delivering, for example, focusing, high-energy ion beams for isochoric heating, dramatic electron heating for x-ray generation, and astrophysically relevant, megatesla-level magnetic fields.