Measuring huge magnetic fields.
Huge magnetic fields are predicted to exist in the high-density region of plasmas produced during intense laser-matter interaction, near the critical-density surface where most laser absorption occurs, but until now these fields have never been measured. By using pulses focused to extreme intensities to investigate laser-plasma interactions, we have been able to record the highest magnetic fields ever produced in a laboratory--over 340 megagauss--by polarimetry measurements of self-generated laser harmonics.
Tatarakis
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M
The Blackett Laboratory, Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine, London SW7 2BZ, UK. m.tatarakis@ic.ac.uk
Watts
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Beg
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Clark
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Dangor
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Gopal
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Haines
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Norreys
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Wagner
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Wei
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Zepf
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Krushelnick
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