Generating axial magnetic fields via two plasmon decay driven by a twisted laser

Abstract

We propose an efficient way of axial magnetic fields generation in a nonrelativistic laser intensity regime by using a twisted light carrying orbital angular momentum (OAM) to stimulate two-plasmon decay (TPD) in a plasma. The growth of TPD driven by an OAM light in a Laguerre-Gauss (LG) mode is investigated through three-dimensional fluid simulations and theory. A theory based on the assumption that the electron plasma waves (EPWs) are locally driven by a number of local plane-wave lasers predicts the maximum growth rate proportional to the peak amplitude of the pump laser field and is verified by the simulations. The OAM conservation during its transportation from the laser to the TPD daughter EPWs is shown by both the theory and the simulations. The theory predicts generation of ≈40 T axial magnetic fields through the OAM absorption via TPD, which has perspective applications in the field of high energy density physics.