Related Experiment Video
Updated: May 18, 2026

Direct Imaging of Laser-driven Ultrafast Molecular Rotation
Published on: February 4, 2017
Strong compression of a magnetic field with a laser-accelerated foil
Hitoki Yoneda1, Tomonori Namiki, Akinori Nishida
1Institute for Laser Science, University of Electro-Communications, Chofu, Tokyo, Japan.
Abstract:
We demonstrate the generation of high magnetic fields for condensed matter research using a high-power laser system. A cavity in which a seed magnetic field is applied is compressed by a kJ ns laser pulse. The time history of the compressed magnetic field is monitored by observing the Faraday effect rotation of polarization of a probe pulse in a glass fiber. To maintain a low-temperature condition in the final high-field region, we put a high-resistance foil around the final compression area. If we assume the length of the compression region is equal to the laser spot size, a magnetic field of more than 800 T is observed by Faraday rotation. Because of the large mass of the compression foil, this high magnetic field is sustained during almost 2 ns. During compression, a rarefaction wave from the backside of the accelerated foil and expanding material from the inner protection foil affect the magnetic field compression history, but the final compressed magnetic field strength agrees with the ratio between the initial sample area and the compressed cavity area.
Related Concept Videos
Force On A Current Loop In A Magnetic Field
Magnetic Force Between Two Parallel Currents
The force exerted by the magnetic field due to the first conductor over a finite length of the second conductor is given as the product of the current in the second conductor and the vector product of the length vector along the current element and the field due to the first conductor. According to the...
Magnetic Field Due To A Thin Straight Wire
Magnetic Field due to Moving Charges
Consider a point charge moving with a constant velocity. Like the electric field, the magnetic field at any point is directly proportional to the magnitude of the charge and inversely proportional to the square of the distance between the source point and the field point. However, unlike the electric field, the magnetic field is always perpendicular to the plane containing the line...
Magnetic Fields
A magnetic field is defined by the force that a charged particle experiences...
Torque On A Current Loop In A Magnetic Field
Consider a rectangular current-carrying loop containing N turns of wire, placed in a uniform magnetic field. The net force on a current-carrying loop...

