Laser-driven collisionless shock waves

Intense lasers are able to generate high Mach number, large amplitude shock waves in collisionless plasmas and in the presence of relativistic electrons. The generation of such shocks is of interest both for the laboratory study of astrophysical models and as a mechanism of ion acceleration. The research activity is theoretical, with wide use of particle-in-cell simulations on large supercomputers, and oriented to the design and interpretation of experiments.

Numerical simulation of a laser-driven collisionless shock. Left frame: the shock front at various times. Right frame: the phase space along the axis.

Personale INO dipendente:
Macchi Andrea,

Personale associato:
Pegoraro Francesco,