extreme plasma physics

Electromagnetic-like dark matter self-interaction

The image depicts the interpenetration of two dark e- e+ plasma clouds.
The interaction of dark-plasma clouds leads to the generation of
dark-Weibel magnetic fields, which deflect the particle trajectories.
This process causes the flow velocity of dark matter to slow down.
Magnetic reconnection of QED strength
fields with hard photon radiation emission

Compression of the fields of a magnetic island leads to
enhanced radiative cooling, in turn, further compression,
and thus a runaway process leading to QED effects such
as pair production. This image shows field lines around a
magnetic island colored by strength. Regions where the field
is compressed to more than 125% of the initial strength are
highlighted in green. The emitted hard photons responsible for
radiative cooling and pair production are shown clustered
around the compressed field.
Speiser and Dahu orbits:
 the trappings that heat you up!

Time evolution of two current sheets profiles (colored surfaces)
that move close to each other, increasing their intensities
(from violet to yellow) and merges at the late stage. The lines
represent the trajectories of sample ions. The white ones
(not trapped) do not increase their energy. The colored trajectory,
instead, is trapped bouncing between the confining approaching
current profiles, increasing its kinetic energy from yellow to green,
evolving alternatively from Speiser and Dahu orbits.
Flying cavity: micro-bunching of protons
for electron acceleration

Particle accelerators have been crucial in providing novel insights
in different branches of physics. It is foreseen that the next generation
of particle accelerators will be plasma-driven. Using a laser pulse
in a neutral gas, an electron plasma can be generated which cuts
a long proton bunch in micro-bunches. This allows to generate wakes
for accelerating electrons to higher energies over shorter distances.
QED strength magnetic reconnection
triggered by radiative compression

When magnetic fields approach the Schwinger magnetic field,
radiative cooling triggers compression of the field to even stronger
levels, allowing for QED effects such as pair production to play
an important role. In this video, magnetic field lines, colored by
field strength, are shown to reconnect. Regions where the field
is compressed to more than 125% of the initial strength are highlighted
in green, with the projected field strength displayed behind in blue.
Fountain currents and Biermann fields

The movie illustrates the interaction between an intense
laser pulse (light orange) and an overdense target (blue surface),
generating a strong toroidal magnetic field (dark orange), via the
Biermann battery mechanism. Indeed, as a consequence of the
interaction, the expansion of the plasma (density gradient) occurs
in a direction perpendicular to the electron heating (temperature gradient),
thus giving rise to a non-zero ∇ n x ∇ T and, hence, a magnetic field.
The blue arrows represent the electron current, showing the
so-called fountain effect.
Radiation from charged particles in a
helical trajectory

Charged particles undergoing a helical trajectory have been
shown to emit radiation with very interesting spectral properties.
The Radiation Diagnostic for OSIRIS (RaDiO) captures the radiated
fields in a grid separate from the simulation grid. This animation
follows a relativistic particle (in blue) undergoing a helical trajectory,
the radiation is represented by pink rings that spread out as they
propagate. We then accelerate towards the detector to see the
same radiation as captured by RaDiO.

Welcome to the website of the extreme plasma physics team, the theory and simulation team of the Group for Lasers and Plasmas of the Instituto de Plasmas e Fusão Nuclear at Instituto Superior Técnico.

Our team is funded by the European Research Council through the Advanced Grant "Accelerates" (ERC-AdG2010 no. 267841) and the Advanced Grant “InPairs” (ERC-AdG2015).

Latest News

Training event on "Modelling of ultra-intense laser propagation in plasmas and laser-plasma accelerators: fundamentals" organized by GoLP

For PhD students/post-docs/researchers in laser-plasma interactions, this training event is dedicated to the fundamentals of computational modeling of intense laser pulse propagation in plasma, and applications to compact laser plasma-based accelerators. Laser plasma accelerators are one of the most exciting applications of intense lasers and computational modeling plays a critical role in the design and optimization of laser plasma accelerators. The event, organized in collaboration with… Read more

Modeling Earth's magnetosphere in the laboratory in Physics of Plasma

In Physics of Plasmas, a collaboration of scientists from Princeton, UCLA, and Instituto Superior Técnico, reports a method to study smaller magnetospheres, sometimes just millimeters thick, in the laboratory. A magnetized object, such as our planet Earth, is immersed within a stream of ionized gas, called plasma. The region around the object in which this effect is… Read more

Latest Publications

Laser-driven, ion-scale magnetospheres in laboratory plasmas. I. Experimental platform and first results, Physics of Plasmas 29 (2022) p. 042901
D. B. Schaeffer, F. D. Cruz, R. S. Dorst, F. Cruz, P. V. Heuer, C. G. Constantin, P. Pribyl, C. Niemann, L. O. Silva, and A. Bhattacharjee
Slowdown of interpenetration of two counterpropagating plasma slabs due to collective effects, Physical Review E 105 (2022) p. 035204
N Shukla, K Schoeffler, J Vieira, R Fonseca, E Boella, LO Silva
Laser-driven, ion-scale magnetospheres in laboratory plasmas. II. Particle-in-cell simulations, Physics of Plasmas 29 (2022) p. 032902
Filipe D. Cruz, Derek B. Schaeffer, Fábio Cruz, Luis O. Silva
Laser-plasma acceleration beyond wave breaking, Physics of Plasmas 28 (2021) p. 013109
J. P. Palastro, B. Malaca, J. Vieira, D. Ramsey, T. T. Simpson, P. Franke, J. L. Shaw and D.H. Froula

Electromagnetic-like dark matter self-interaction

Magnetic reconnection of QED strength fields with hard photon radiation emission

Speiser and Dahu orbits: the trappings that heat you up!

Flying cavity: micro-bunching of protons for electron acceleration

QED strength magnetic reconnection triggered by radiative compression

Fountain currents and Biermann fields

Radiation from charged particles in a helical trajectory

Latest News

Training event on "Modelling of ultra-intense laser propagation in plasmas and laser-plasma accelerators: fundamentals" organized by GoLP

Modeling Earth's magnetosphere in the laboratory in Physics of Plasma

Latest Publications

Magnetic reconnection of QED strength
fields with hard photon radiation emission

Speiser and Dahu orbits:
 the trappings that heat you up!

Flying cavity: micro-bunching of protons
for electron acceleration

QED strength magnetic reconnection
triggered by radiative compression

Radiation from charged particles in a
helical trajectory