Modeling of the expansion of ultra-short-pulse laser-produced plasmas in magnetic fields

The study of hot plasma expansion in a uniform magnetic field is of interest for many astrophysical applications. In order to observe this process in laboratory, an experiment is proposed in which an ultrashort laser pulse produces a high-temperature plasma by irradiation of a jet of atomic clusters. The very high laser light absorption exhibited in such a gas of clusters facilitates the creation of a hot (> 5 keV), dense (10(19)-10(20) cm(-3)) plasma with a sharp boundary. The small scale of the plasma ( 1T). Pump-probe techniques can then be used to diagnose the density and magnetic field with high spatial and temporal resolution (