Ion dynamics in laser-produced collisionless perpendicular shock: one-dimensional particle-in-cell simulation

Abstract

Abstract Recently, perpendicular shocks have been generated in laboratory experiments by the interaction between a laser-produced supersonic plasma flow and a magnetized ambient plasma. Here, we explore the ion dynamics and the formation of such kinds of shock with a one-dimensional (1D) particle-in-cell simulation model using achievable parameters for laser experiments. A small part of the ambient ions is first reflected by the laser-driven piston. These piston-reflected ions interact with the upstream plasma and form a shock then. By analyzing the contribution of the electric force and the Lorentz force during the reflection, shock-reflected ions are found to be accelerated by two different mechanisms: shock drift acceleration and shock surfing acceleration, where shock drift acceleration is the dominant one. Very few ions are reflected twice by the shock and accelerated to a large velocity, implying that a more energetic population of ions can be observed in future experiments.