Suppression of the Biermann Battery and Stabilization of the Thermomagnetic Instability in Laser Fusion Conditions
- 3 February 2020
- journal article
- research article
- Published by American Physical Society (APS) in Physical Review Letters
- Vol. 124 (5), 055001
- https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.124.055001
Abstract
Magnetic field generated by the Biermann battery is thought to be one of the principal mechanisms behind the inhibition of heat flow in laser-plasma interactions, and is predicted to grow exponentially in some contexts due to the thermomagnetic instability [Tidman and Shanny, Phys. Fluids 17, 1207 (1974)]. In contrast to these predictions, however, we have conducted Vlasov-Fokker-Planck simulations of magnetic field dynamics under a range of classically unstable laser-fusion conditions, and find field generation to be strongly suppressed, preventing magnetization of the transport, and stabilizing instability. By deriving new scaling laws, we show that this stabilization is a consequence of (i) heavy suppression of the Biermann battery under nonlocal conditions; (ii) rapid convection of magnetic field by the heat flow; and (iii) comparatively short field length scales. Our results indicate that classical models substantially overestimate the importance of magnetic fields generated by the Biermann battery, and the susceptibility of laser-fusion plasmas to the thermomagnetic instability.Funding Information
- U.S. Department of Energy (DE-AC52-07NA27344)
- Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL-JRNL-730526)
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