Plasma physics articles within Nature Communications

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  • Article
    | Open Access

    Pulses of light offer a way to create particle accelerators that are a fraction of the size of conventional approaches. Here, the authors demonstrate the linear acceleration of electrons with kiloelectronvolt energy gain and in extremely short bunches using optically-generated terahertz pulses.

    • Emilio A. Nanni
    • , Wenqian R. Huang
    •  & Franz X. Kärtner

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The wetting on soft surfaces is less understood than that on rigid ones because it is challenging to quantify substrate deformation. Here, the authors monitor the deformation over a large range of droplet velocities, and propose a dynamical model that captures contact line motion and depinning.

    • S. Karpitschka
    • , S. Das
    •  & J. H. Snoeijer

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Alfvénic waves are oscillations that occur in a plasma threaded by a magnetic field and their propagation, reflection and dissipation is believed to be partly responsible for the solar wind. Here, the authors observe the counter-propagating Alfvénic waves that most models require for solar-wind acceleration.

    • R. J. Morton
    • , S. Tomczyk
    •  & R. Pinto

  • Article |

    Electrons trapped to a two-dimensional plane can exhibit many exotic properties. Here, the authors use a technique that measures entropy per electron to explore the evolution of such a system from the Fermi liquid regime to a previously unexplored regime of a strongly correlated charged plasma.

    • A. Y. Kuntsevich
    • , Y. V. Tupikov
    •  & I. S. Burmistrov

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Free, or solvated, electrons in a solution are known to form at the interface between a liquid and a gas. Here, the authors use absorption spectroscopy in a total internal reflection geometry to probe solvated electrons generated at a plasma in contact with the surface of an aqueous solution

    • Paul Rumbach
    • , David M. Bartels
    •  & David B. Go

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Confined populations of interacting motile particles often display collective motion in the form of large-scale vortices, such as fish groups and bacteria colonies. Bricard et al.study a model system with self-propelled colloidal rollers and identify the constituents responsible for emergent vortices.

    • Antoine Bricard
    • , Jean-Baptiste Caussin
    •  & Denis Bartolo

  • Article |

    Droplet coarsening during phase separation is widely thought to be a random process, relying on Brownian diffusion and coagulation. Here, Shimizu and Tanaka show that the process is hydrodynamically driven, where the droplet motion is directional due to an interfacial tension gradient in droplets.

    • Ryotaro Shimizu
    •  & Hajime Tanaka

  • Article
    | Open Access

    A thin liquid coating on a fibre can break up into droplets due to the Plateau–Rayleigh instability, as for instance on a spider web. Here, Haefner et al. show that the growth rate of the droplet undulations strongly depends on the fibre–liquid boundary condition and slip accelerates the instability.

    • Sabrina Haefner
    • , Michael Benzaquen
    •  & Kari Dalnoki-Veress

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The contribution from water bridges at nanoscale between rough surfaces is important for macroscopic friction under ambient conditions. Here, Lee et al. show that water nanobridge produce noncontact friction originated from the pinning–depinning dynamics of the contact line at the interface.

    • Manhee Lee
    • , Bongsu Kim
    •  & Wonho Jhe

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The spreading of liquids on water can lead to complex drop assemblies, but none of them so far exhibits coordinated dynamics. Here, Yamamoto et al. observe a dance of insoluble oil drops on a water surface evolving from linear to hexagonal arrays, due to dewetting transition and evaporation of oil.

    • Daigo Yamamoto
    • , Chika Nakajima
    •  & Kenichi Yoshikawa

  • Article |

    Intense laser pulses can induce the propagation of coherent waves through a plasma, which are useful for accelerating electrons. Here, the authors use a genetic algorithm and a deformable mirror to optimize the wavefront and improve electron beam intensity and divergence.

    • Z.-H. He
    • , B. Hou
    •  & A.G.R. Thomas

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Whistler-mode waves regulate trapped electrons in the magnetosphere, but an accurate determination of their energy budget has remained elusive. This study presents a full analysis of their magnetic and electric field contributions and finds that a large amount of energy is stored in oblique waves.

    • A.V. Artemyev
    • , O.V. Agapitov
    •  & F.S. Mozer

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Understanding the behaviour of magnetic flux ropes in the Sun is crucial for explaining solar phenomena such as flares and space weather. Exploiting the high resolution available in the 1.6 m New Solar Telescope, Wang et al.capture the evolution of a flaring twisted flux rope in the low solar corona.

    • Haimin Wang
    • , Wenda Cao
    •  & Haisheng Ji

  • Article |

    A stable plasma state with a high ratio of plasma to magnetic pressures is likely to be a key requirement for any future magnetic fusion reactor. Here, the authors create such a plasma using a field reversed configuration and active plasma boundary control and demonstrate its stability.

    • H. Y. Guo
    • , M. W. Binderbauer
    •  & E. Trask

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Charge screening dominates the behaviour of high-energy plasmas, which exist in stars and possibly in future fusion technology. Here, the authors describe a theoretical framework for charge screening that goes beyond the conventional model and demonstrate its importance in analysing experimental data.

    • D. A. Chapman
    • , J. Vorberger
    •  & D. O. Gericke

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Laser-driven plasmas can accelerate electrons in set-ups far smaller than conventional particle accelerators, but beam divergence is a problem. Here, the authors demonstrate a laser-plasma lens that can focus the beam thanks to field gradients five order of magnitude larger than using traditional optics.

    • C. Thaury
    • , E. Guillaume
    •  & V. Malka

  • Article |

    The shape of red blood cells is highly sensitive to surrounding liquid environment. Here, Miccio et al. make red blood cells into optofluidic lenses with fully controllable focal length at the microscale, which can be used for imaging and optical magnification in addition to blood diseases detection.

    • L. Miccio
    • , P. Memmolo
    •  & P. Ferraro

  • Article |

    Magnetic reconnection occurs close to the surface of the sun, in the Earth’s magnetosphere and in astronomical plasmas. Here, the authors investigate magnetic reconnection in a laboratory-based experiments with an asymmetric configuration similar to those found in real astrophysical situations.

    • M.J. Rosenberg
    • , C.K. Li
    •  & R.D. Petrasso

  • Article |

    The separation of enantiomers by flows holds promise in food and pharmaceutical industries, but the feasibility remains uncertain. Here, Hermans et al.separate macroscopic particles of opposite chirality at a liquid interface using shear flows, which provides insights into the mechanism at nanoscale.

    • Thomas M. Hermans
    • , Kyle J. M. Bishop
    •  & Bartosz A. Grzybowski

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Understanding the transport of ions, electrons and heat in magnetized plasmas is important to the development of fusion power as well as our understanding of the behaviour of astrophysical objects. Ida et al.find that stochastization of magnetic field lines in a plasma damps plasma flow more strongly than expected.

    • K. Ida
    • , M. Yoshinuma
    •  & A. Komori

  • Article |

    Self-accelerating beams are attractive for light-matter interaction applications but their propagation has been limited by absorption. Here, Schley et al.demonstrate self-healing in shape-maintaining, accelerating beams where the central peak intensity is preserved despite losses and apply these beams to particle manipulation.

    • Ran Schley
    • , Ido Kaminer
    •  & Mordechai Segev

  • Article |

    Solar flares follow complex statistical patterns, making it hard to understand and model their underlying physical processes. Here, the authors present a model based on reconnection of magnetic flux tubes twisted by turbulent photospheric flow that reproduces flare statistics and energy–time correlations.

    • M. Mendoza
    • , A. Kaydul
    •  & H. J. Herrmann

  • Article |

    Electrons moving in strongly curved paths emit radiation that is used in free-electron laser designs. Here, the authors demonstrate the inverse force principle, where a laser light field is used in a compact experimental design to accelerate electrons to produce high-quality electron beams.

    • J. Duris
    • , P. Musumeci
    •  & V. Yakimenko

  • Article |

    Magnetic reconnection is believed to play a key role in the acceleration and heating of particles in astrophysical plasmas but the details are unclear. Yamada et al. study reconnection in a laboratory plasma, enabling them to determine the exact mechanisms of energy flow from magnetic field to particles.

    • Masaaki Yamada
    • , Jongsoo Yoo
    •  & Clayton E. Myers

  • Article |

    Synchrotron radiation sources based on a combination of laser plasma accelerators and magnetic undulator have been limited in terms of brightness. Here, Andriyash et al.propose to use a sub-millimetre nano-wire array as a laser-plasma undulator that could produce bright, collimated and tunable X-ray pulses.

    • I.A. Andriyash
    • , R. Lehe
    •  & V. Malka

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Petawatt laser-matter interactions could open the way to fusion energy or compact particular accelerators, but predicting the amount of light absorbed in these interactions is challenging. New analysis by Levy et al.reveals the theoretical upper and lower limits of this absorption.

    • Matthew C. Levy
    • , Scott C. Wilks
    •  & Matthew G. Baring

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Stimulated Raman scattering is one of the methods being explored to generate ultrahigh intensity short laser pulses. Depierreux et al. explore a new regime, also relevant to inertial confinement thermonuclear fusion, in which nonlinear kinetic response of a hot plasma enhances Raman amplification.

    • S. Depierreux
    • , V. Yahia
    •  & C. Labaune

  • Article |

    Sprites are spectacular optical emissions in the mesosphere with an enigmatic filamentary nature. Qin et al.present high-speed video and modelling data revealing sub-millisecond dynamics to reconstruct the structures on a km-scale, showing that pre-existing plasma irregularities are responsible for their initiation.

    • Jianqi Qin
    • , Victor P. Pasko
    •  & Hans C. Stenbaek-Nielsen

  • Article |

    The plasma environment induces an ionization potential depression on its ions, yet a clear description of this effect remains elusive. Towards this aim, Vinko et al.offer a method to study the structure and position of the continuum of highly ionized dense plasmas that accurately reproduces recent experiments.

    • S. M. Vinko
    • , O. Ciricosta
    •  & J. S. Wark

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Next generation high power lasers will produce fields so intense they can only be controlled with components made of plasmas. Vincenti et al.explore the properties of one such component—the relativistic plasma mirror—and construct an analytical framework to improve their use in focusing intense laser fields.

    • H. Vincenti
    • , S. Monchocé
    •  & F. Quéré

  • Article |

    Controlling the propagation of microwaves in air is hard because of their divergence and the lack of suitable optics. Kudyshev et al. show how this can be overcome using plasma channels to create virtual hyperbolic metamaterials to collimate and guide radar beams.

    • Zhaxylyk A. Kudyshev
    • , Martin C. Richardson
    •  & Natalia M. Litchinitser

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Radiation sources driven by laser-plasma accelerators have the potential to produce shorter bursts of radiation at lower cost than those based on conventional accelerators. Schnell et al.demonstrate the ability to control the polarization of the bursts of hard X-rays produced by such a source.

    • Michael Schnell
    • , Alexander Sävert
    •  & Christian Spielmann

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Laser-plasma accelerators can produce high-energy electron bunches over just a few centimetres of distance, offering possible table-top accelerator capabilities. Wang et al.break the current 1 GeV barrier by applying a petawatt laser to accelerate electrons nearly monoenergetically up to 2 GeV.

    • Xiaoming Wang
    • , Rafal Zgadzaj
    •  & M. C. Downer

  • Article
    | Open Access

    X-ray lasers are of interest to study various properties of materials down to the atomic scale. The discovery by Magnitskiy et al. of a mirage interference effect in X-ray plasma lasers could lead to new possibilities to control the output of such lasers.

    • Sergey Magnitskiy
    • , Nikolay Nagorskiy
    •  & Yoshiaki Kato

  • Article |

    Laser-plasma accelerators can produce giga electronvolt energy electrons over centimetre scales, but their properties depend on the initial injection into the accelerator. Corde et al.study self-injection of electrons into the plasma wake and identify both transverse and longitudinal injection mechanisms.

    • S. Corde
    • , C. Thaury
    •  & V. Malka

  • Article |

    A full understanding of the heating and dynamics of the Sun's atmosphere remains elusive, but magnetohydrodynamic waves are believed to be crucial. Using observations from the ROSA imager, this study finds compressive waves in the solar chromosphere, which may provide the energy needed for coronal heating.

    • Richard J. Morton
    • , Gary Verth
    •  & Robertus Erdélyi

  • Article |

    Computed tomography relies on scanning to measure an object from many angles, which fails for shot-to-shot changes and ultrafast phenomena. Matliset al. demonstrate an approach based on spectral multiplexing for single-shot tomographic imaging and use it to measure femtosecond plasma filaments.

    • N.H. Matlis
    • , A. Axley
    •  & W.P. Leemans

  • Article
    | Open Access

    High-intensity laser-plasma ion generation is promising as a compact proton source for applications like ion beam therapy. Using a femtosecond table-top laser system, Zeilet al. show that protons efficiently gain energy in the pre-thermal intra-pulse phase of the generation process.

    • K. Zeil
    • , J. Metzkes
    •  & U. Schramm

  • Article
    | Open Access

    At extreme temperature and pressure, materials can form new dense phases with unusual physical properties. Here, laser-induced microexplosions are used to produce a superdense, stable, body-centred-cubic form of aluminium, which was previously predicted to exist at pressures above 380GPa.

    • Arturas Vailionis
    • , Eugene G. Gamaly
    •  & Saulius Juodkazis

  • Article
    | Open Access

    A bubble at an air–liquid interface can form a liquid jet upon bursting, spraying aerosol droplets into the air. Leeet al. show that jetting is analogous to pinching-off in liquid coalescence, which may be useful in applications that prevent jet formation and in the improved incorporation of aerosols in climate models.

    • Ji San Lee
    • , Byung Mook Weon
    •  & Wah-Keat Lee

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Theory and simulations predict scale-invariant concentration fluctuations during diffusion in liquids, but on Earth, large-scale fluctuations are damped by gravity. Microgravity experiments by Vailatiet al. reveal the scale-invariant nature of diffusion, associated with fractal fronts and long-ranged correlations.

    • Alberto Vailati
    • , Roberto Cerbino
    •  & Marzio Giglio

  • Article |

    Future tokamak nuclear fusion reactors depend on efficient current drive methods, but it is hard to penetrate the high-density plasma in these devices. In this paper the authors show that radio frequency waves coupled to lower hybrid plasma waves, when the peripheral temperature of the plasma is high, can penetrate the plasma core.

    • R. Cesario
    • , L. Amicucci
    •  & F. Zonca

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