title: Filamentation instability of counterstreaming laser-driven plasmas.
abstract: Filamentation due to the growth of a Weibel-type instability was observed in the interaction of a pair of counterstreaming, ablatively driven plasma flows, in a supersonic, collisionless regime relevant to astrophysical collisionless shocks. The flows were created by irradiating a pair of opposing plastic (CH) foils with 1.8 kJ, 2-ns laser pulses on the OMEGA EP Laser System. Ultrafast laser-driven proton radiography was used to image the Weibel-generated electromagnetic fields. The experimental observations are in good agreement with the analytical theory of the Weibel instability and with particle-in-cell simulations.
authors: Space Science Center, University of New Hampshire, Durham, New Hampshire 03824, USA.
authors: W
authors: W
authors: Fox
authors: Laboratory for Laser Energetics, University of Rochester, Rochester, New York 14623, USA and Fusion Science Center for Extreme States of Matter, University of Rochester, Rochester, New York 14623, USA.
authors: G
authors: G
authors: Fiksel
authors: Department of Astrophysical Sciences and Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory, Princeton, New Jersey 08543, USA.
authors: A
authors: A
authors: Bhattacharjee
authors: Laboratory for Laser Energetics, University of Rochester, Rochester, New York 14623, USA and Fusion Science Center for Extreme States of Matter, University of Rochester, Rochester, New York 14623, USA.
authors: P-Y
authors: PY
authors: Chang
authors: Space Science Center, University of New Hampshire, Durham, New Hampshire 03824, USA.
authors: K
authors: K
authors: Germaschewski
authors: Laboratory for Laser Energetics, University of Rochester, Rochester, New York 14623, USA.
authors: S X
authors: SX
authors: Hu
authors: Laboratory for Laser Energetics, University of Rochester, Rochester, New York 14623, USA and Fusion Science Center for Extreme States of Matter, University of Rochester, Rochester, New York 14623, USA.
authors: P M
authors: PM
authors: Nilson