Browse Physics

A new model shows that the nonuniform heating of ions in the solar wind may be explained by resonant interactions with a particular type of plasma wave.

Lasers produce a beam of neutrons intense enough for practical experiments, extending the reach of neutron sources to small-scale laboratories.

Relativistic electrons passing through a laser-produced plasma map out magnetic fields that move at nearly the speed of light.

Simulations show that controlled beating of multiple laser frequencies optimizes energy delivery to inertial fusion targets.

Focusing a beam of light on a slit reveals details of its polarization with surprising sensitivity.

The next generation of ultrahigh energy lasers will be able to produce extremely dense electron-positron plasmas and intense bursts of gamma rays, according to simulations, and both will lead to new types of experiments.

Plasmas can be made transparent to electromagnetic waves with the application of external magnetic fields.

Experiments show that magnetic waves in a plasma may be effective at controlling energetic electrons.

Radar data confirm that an important mechanism for turbulence in Earth’s auroral plasma can occur naturally.

Dense plasmas created by lasers used for inertial confinement fusion research have been used to extract precise basic nuclear physics data.

How a material’s structure affects the conduction of ultrahot electrons is being explored with one of the world’s most powerful lasers.

To create the conditions needed for nuclear fusion, the National Ignition Facility uses high power lasers to generate near solar levels of heat in a pill-size cavity.

Plasma flux ropes, which occur in events like solar flares, have been observed in experiments to bounce off each other instead of merging and annihilating.

Where do cosmic magnetic fields come from?

Plasma chamber offers a laboratory-scale view of magnetic field eruptions on the sun’s surface.

A new phonon mode has been observed in a two-dimensional plasma crystal.

The magnetic field generated by a plasma can lack cylindrical symmetry even when the initial plasma state is perfectly symmetrical.

The same instability that is observed in hot plasmas, such as those created in spacecraft ion thrusters, is also found in an ultracold xenon plasma.

Magnetic field lines in moving plasmas can break and reform, releasing large amounts of energy. Simulations suggest this happens in a two stage process—one slow and smooth, the other rapid and chaotic.