Magnetic field amplification to the gigagauss scale via dynamos driven by femtosecond lasers

Abstract: Reaching gigagauss magnetic fields opens new horizons both in atomic and plasma physics. At these magnetic field strengths, the electron cyclotron energy $\hbar\omega_{c}$ becomes comparable to the atomic binding energy (the Rydberg), and the cyclotron frequency $\omega_{c}$ approaches the plasma frequency at solid state densities that significantly modifies optical properties of the target. The generation of such strong quasistatic magnetic fields in laboratory remains a challenge. Using supercomputer simulations, we demonstrate how it can be achieved all-optically by irradiating a micro-channel target by a circularly polarized relativistic femtosecond laser. The laser pulse drives a strong electron vortex along the channel wall, inducing a megagauss longitudinal magnetic field in the channel by the inverse Faraday effect. This seed field is then amplified up to a gigagauss level and maintained on a picosecond time scale via dynamos driven by plasma thermal expansion off the channel walls. Our scheme sets a possible platform for producing long living extreme magnetic fields in laboratories using readily available lasers. The concept might also be relevant for applications such as magneto-inertial fusion.