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Updated: May 18, 2026

Investigation of Early Plasma Evolution Induced by Ultrashort Laser Pulses
Published on: July 2, 2012
Kelvin-Helmholtz turbulence associated with collisionless shocks in laser produced plasmas
Y Kuramitsu1, Y Sakawa, S Dono
1Institute of Laser Engineering, Osaka University, 2-6 Yamadaoka, Suita, Osaka, 565-0871 Japan. kuramitsu-y@ile.osaka-u.ac.jp
Abstract:
We report the experimental results of a turbulent electric field driven by Kelvin-Helmholtz instability associated with laser produced collisionless shock waves. By irradiating an aluminum double plane target with a high-power laser, counterstreaming plasma flows are generated. As the consequence of the two plasma interactions, two shock waves and the contact surface are excited. The shock electric field and transverse modulation of the contact surface are observed by proton radiography. Performing hydrodynamic simulations, we reproduce the time evolutions of the reverse shocks and the transverse modulation driven by Kelvin-Helmholtz instability.
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