title: Field compressing magnetothermal instability in laser plasmas.
abstract: The mechanism for a new instability in magnetized plasmas is presented and a dispersion relation derived. Unstable behavior is shown to result purely from transport processes-feedback between the Nernst effect and the Righi-Leduc heat-flow phenomena in particular-neither hydrodynamic motion nor density gradients are required. Calculations based on a recent nanosecond laser gas-jet experiment [D. H. Froula, Phys. Rev. Lett. 98, 135001 (2007)] predict growth of magnetic field and temperature perturbations with typical wavelengths of order 50  μm and characteristic growth times of ∼0.1  ns. The instability yields propagating magnetothermal waves whose direction depends on the magnitude of the Hall parameter.
authors.affiliation: Imperial College London, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: J J
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Bissell
authors.forename: C P
authors.initials: CP
authors.lastname: Ridgers
authors.forename: R J
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: Kingham