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Brief Communications
Nature 415, 280 (17 January 2002) | doi:10.1038/415280a
Laser technology: Measuring huge magnetic fields
M. Tatarakis1, I. Watts1, F. N. Beg1, E. L. Clark1, A. E. Dangor1, A. Gopal1, M. G. Haines1, P. A. Norreys2, U. Wagner2, M.-S. Wei1, M. Zepf1 & K. Krushelnick1
Abstract
Huge magnetic fields are predicted1, 2, 3, 4 to exist in the high-density region of plasmas produced during intense laser–matter interaction, near the critical-density surface where most laser absorption occurs, but until now these fields have never been measured. By using pulses focused to extreme intensities to investigate laser–plasma interactions5, we have been able to record the highest magnetic fields ever produced in a laboratory – over 340 megagauss – by polarimetry measurements of self-generated laser harmonics.
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