Pinch effect of self-generated magnetic fields in the quantum degenerate plasmas on the heating process of the double-cone ignition scheme

Abstract: In the double-cone ignition scheme, compressed fuels in two head-on cones are ejected to collide, forming a colliding plasma with an isochoric distribution for rapid heating by high flux fast electrons from picosecond petawatt laser beams in the perpendicular direction from the cone axis. In this work, we investigate the effects of quantum degeneracy on the transport of fast electrons in the colliding plasma, which rapidly evolves from the quantum degenerate in the outer region of the plasma to the classical state in the concentric core region heated by the colliding fronts of the plasma jets. With large scale particle-in-cell simulations, it is found that the self-generated magnetic field generated by the transport of fast electrons in the quantum degenerate state at the outer region is much stronger than in the corresponding classical state with the same fuel density in the core region. Theoretical analysis of the growth of the self-generated magnetic field is developed to explain the simulation results. Such strong self-generated magnetic fields in the quantum degenerate states can pinch the axially injected fast electrons to deposit their energy in the concentric core region, improving the heating efficiency for fast ignition.