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# Observation of Magnetized Soliton Remnants in the Wake of Intense Laser Pulse Propagation through Plasmas

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Centre for Plasma Physics, The Queen's University of Belfast, United Kingdom.
(Impact Factor: 7.51). 10/2010; 105(17):175002. DOI: 10.1103/PHYSREVLETT.105.175002
Source: PubMed

ABSTRACT

Slowly evolving, regularly spaced patterns have been observed in proton projection images of plasma channels drilled by intense (≳10¹⁹ W cm⁻²) short (∼1  ps) laser pulses propagating in an ionized gas jet. The nature and geometry of the electromagnetic fields generating such patterns have been inferred by simulating the laser-plasma interaction and the following plasma evolution with a two-dimensional particle-in-cell code and the probe proton deflections by particle tracing. The analysis suggests the formation of rows of magnetized soliton remnants, with a quasistatic magnetic field associated with vortexlike electron currents resembling those of magnetic vortices.

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