Generation of current sheets and giant quasistatic magnetic fields at the ionization of vacuum in extremely strong light fields

• The self-consistent dynamics of an electron–positron plasma, which is formed during the generation of quantum-electrodynamic cascades, in a superstrong field of counterpropagating linearly polarized waves is examined. It is shown that the formation of thin (on a wavelength scale) current sheets which generate quasistatic magnetic fields comparable to the corresponding fields of incident waves plays an important role in the dynamics of a cascade for fields above a certain threshold. The fraction of the laser energy transformed into the energy of quasistatic magnetic fields can exceed 20%.

Subject headings

NATURVETENSKAP  -- Fysik -- Fusion, plasma och rymdfysik (hsv//swe)

NATURAL SCIENCES  -- Physical Sciences -- Fusion, Plasma and Space Physics (hsv//eng)

Publication and Content Type

art (subject category)

ref (subject category)