Group of Lasers and Plasmas

Generation of miniature magnetised shockwaves

By interacting with minimagnetospheres, super-alfvénic plasma streams
can generate collisionless shocks with very distinct features, like solitary
(tsunami-like) magnetosonic waves.  In the figure, we represent the magnetic field
of a train of solitary waves (in blue tones) resulting from the interaction with a
minimagnetosphere, whose typical size is of a few ion Larmor radii. In orange/red
tones, we represent the electron fluid velocity component perpendicular to the
magnetic field, that illustrates the development of electron-scale instabilities
at the magnetopause.
Cascading in laser pulses

The figure represents the development of an
electron-positron pair plasma at the focus of two
counter circularly polarized intense laser pulses.
The electrons, positrons and photons are respectively
colored in red, green and yellow. The laser pulses
are displayed in a rainbow color scale according
to the wave intensity. The arrows represent the field
lines of the electric field.
High-resolution x-ray 3D imaging of bone micro-structure

Osteoporosis impact on public health is sharply increasing justifying a significant effort to diagnose,
reat and understand this disease. Bones have been imaged with x-rays for almost a century and the
basic technology for clinical image is well established, but with the recent development of large scale
synchrotron light sources and high-end microfiches x-ray generators, imaging of the intricate bone inner
structure with a few micron resolution become possible. Laser driven betatron x-ray microscope was
built and used to demonstrate the feasibility of high-resolution bone imaging in the Astra-Gemini laser
facility (UK). A sample of femur trabecular bone was imaged from multiple angles and a 3D model of the
bone was built using tomographic techniques to a resolution below 50 micron. This demonstration renew
the interest in the development of compact laser-plasma electron accelerators and its applications. It also
opens prospects for its use in clinic diagnostics in the medium term.

Welcome to the website of the Group of Lasers and Plasmas of the Instituto de Plasmas e Fusão Nuclear at Instituto Superior Técnico.

Last Saturday, the 37th European Conference on Laser Interaction with Matter (ECLIM 2024) was successfully concluded. GoLP was part of the organization and some team members also presented their work. Our GoLP members Sofiia P, Lucas A, Lucas I, Óscar A, Zahra M, Pablo B, Robert B, Bernardo B, Camilla W, Rafael A, Anthony MB and Filipe DC presented a poster, while Chiara B,… Read more

Epp members at 21st International Congress on Plasma Physics in Ghent

Our team members Róbert Babjak and Thales Silva attended the 21st International Congress on Plasma Physics held on 8th to 13th September in Ghent, Belgium, to present invited talks about their recent work. Thales presented his recent results on the generation of unstable plasmas with laser-matter interactions and Róbert presented his results on direct laser acceleration mechanisms and its possibility as a high-brilliance… Read more

Latest Publications

Particle-in-cell simulations of pulsar magnetospheres: Transition between electrosphere and force-free regimes, Astronomy & Astrophysics 690 (2024) p. A229
F. Cruz , T. Grismayer, R. Torres, A. Y. Chen, A. Spitkovsky, R. A. Fonseca, and L. O. Silva
Direct laser acceleration in varying plasma density profiles, New Journal of Physics 26 (2024) p. 093002
Robert Babjak, Bertrand Martinez, Miroslav Krus, Marija Vranic
Laboratory Study of Magnetic Reconnection in Lunar-relevant Mini-magnetospheres, The Astrophysical Journal 969 (2024) p. 124
Lucas Rovige, Filipe D. Cruz, Robert S. Dorst, Jessica J. Pilgram, Carmen G. Constantin, Stephen Vincena, Fábio Cruz, Luis O. Silva, Christoph Niemann, and Derek B. Schaeffer
Laboratory realization of relativistic pair-plasma beams, Nature Communications 15 (2024) p. 5209
CD Arrowsmith, Pascal Simon, PJ Bilbao, AFA Bott, Stephane Burger, Hui Chen, FD Cruz, Tristan Davenne, Ilias Efthymiopoulos, DH Froula, A Goillot, Jon Tomas Gudmundsson, Dan Haberberger, JWD Halliday, Tom Hodge, BT Huffman, Sam Iaquinta, Francesco Miniati, Brian Reville, Subir Sarkar, AA Schekochihin, LO Silva, Raspberry Simpson, Vasiliki Stergiou, RMGM Trines, Thibault Vieu, Nikolaos Charitonidis, Robert Bingham, Gianluca Gregori

Generation of miniature magnetised shockwaves

Cascading in laser pulses

High-resolution x-ray 3D imaging of bone micro-structure

Latest News

ECLIM 2024 at IST

Epp members at 21st International Congress on Plasma Physics in Ghent

Latest Publications