Physical Review E (Plasma physics)

Author(s): Qile Zhang, Yanzeng Zhang, Qi Tang, and Xian-Zhu Tang

Nonlinear dynamics of runaway electron induced wave instabilities can significantly modify the runaway distribution critical to tokamak operations. Here we present a fully kinetic simulation of runaway-driven instabilities toward nonlinear saturation in a warm plasma where collisional damping is sub…

[Phys. Rev. E 113, L043203] Published Mon Apr 20, 2026

Author(s): A. Mateo, J. J. Honrubia, D. A. Callahan, M. Brönner, W. Theobald, and M. Roth

The laser direct-drive fast ignition scheme is a candidate for inertial fusion energy reactors. The scheme promises higher fusion gains (fusion energy divided by laser energy) than with conventional central hot-spot ignition. For a particle beam (electrons or ions) to reach and heat the compressed f…

[Phys. Rev. E 113, 045212] Published Fri Apr 17, 2026

Author(s): Litong Xu, Guoqian Liao, Xinyao Zhang, Jieya Ruan, Tingting Xi, Xin Lu, and Yutong Li

Whether and how intense laser pulses can pierce optically opaque media remains a fundamental question of interest in laser-matter interactions. Both existing mechanisms enabling laser propagation in overdense plasmas, i.e., relativistic self-induced transparency and electromagnetically induced trans…

[Phys. Rev. E 113, 045213] Published Fri Apr 17, 2026

Author(s): Andrea Cernuschi, Thomas Thuillier, and Laurent Garrigues

The electron cyclotron resonance ion plasma accelerator (ECRIPAC) is an original concept for a plasma-based particle accelerator able to generate pulsed ion beams with adjustable energy, targeting mostly medical applications. This paper thoroughly reviews the working principle and physical theory be…

[Phys. Rev. E 113, 045211] Published Tue Apr 14, 2026

Author(s): Andrea Cernuschi, Thomas Thuillier, and Laurent Garrigues

Plasma-based accelerators are often distinguished by their compact size. This paper presents theoretical designs for several compact plasma-based devices to accelerate ions relevant for medical applications. Design parameters are validated with a Monte Carlo particle-tracking code.

#TechnicalAdvancement #TimelyTopic

[Phys. Rev. E 113, L043202] Published Tue Apr 14, 2026

Author(s): Neco Kriel, Mark R. Krumholz, Patrick J. Armstrong, James R. Beattie, and Jennifer Schober

Small-scale dynamos (SSDs) amplify magnetic fields in turbulent plasmas. Theory predicts nonlinear magnetic energy growth Emag∝tpnl, but this scaling has not been tested across flow regimes. Using a large ensemble of SSD simulations spanning subsonic to supersonic turbulence, we measure linear growt…

[Phys. Rev. E 113, 045208] Published Fri Apr 10, 2026

Author(s): M. Lamač, P. Valenta, U. Chaulagain, J. Nejdl, D. Čáp, O. Morvai, and S. V. Bulanov

A beam of relativistic charged particles propagating in a plasma can drive plasma electrons to oscillate and together form a wave whose phase velocity matches the velocity of the driving beam. These plasma waves realize state-of-the-art compact accelerators through plasma wakefield acceleration. Her…

[Phys. Rev. E 113, 045209] Published Fri Apr 10, 2026

Author(s): Siddhartha Mangamuri, L. Couëdel, and S. Jaiswal

This article presents a detailed investigation of solid-fluid phase coexistence in a bilayer dusty plasma crystal subjected to varying confinement ring bias voltages in a dc glow discharge argon plasma. Melamine formaldehyde particles were employed to form a stable, hexagonally ordered bilayer cryst…

[Phys. Rev. E 113, 045210] Published Fri Apr 10, 2026

Author(s): Adrian E. Fraser, Alexis K. Kaminski, and Jeffrey S. Oishi

In astrophysical shear flows, the Kelvin-Helmholtz (KH) instability is generally suppressed by magnetic tension, provided a sufficiently strong streamwise magnetic field. This is often used to infer upper (or lower) bounds on field strengths in systems where shear-driven fluctuations are (or are not…

[Phys. Rev. E 113, L043201] Published Fri Apr 10, 2026

Author(s): Iu. Gagarin and Ph. Korneev

The process of direct laser acceleration of plasma electrons is considered in a strongly magnetized plasmoid with the magnetic field strength allowing for reaching the autoresonance without any special injection conditions. The plasmoid may be optically created by irradiation of specially designed t…

[Phys. Rev. E 113, 045204] Published Thu Apr 02, 2026

Author(s): Julien Langlois and Renaud Gueroult

The trajectory of light rays propagating through a nonuniformly moving anisotropic medium is determined by considering the Fresnel drag experienced by the wave at each point along the ray. By showing that symmetries in the velocity field manifest as symmetries in the effective wave index representin…

[Phys. Rev. E 113, 045205] Published Thu Apr 02, 2026

Author(s): Daniel Plummer, Pontus Svensson, Wiktor Jasniak, Patrick Hollebon, Sam M. Vinko, and Gianluca Gregori

We develop a wavepacket molecular dynamics framework for modeling the structural properties of partially ionized dense plasmas, based on a chemical model that explicitly includes bound state wave functions. Using hydrogen as a representative system, we compute self-consistent charge state distributi…

[Phys. Rev. E 113, 045206] Published Thu Apr 02, 2026

Author(s): Laury Batista, Samuel Marini, Nicolas Chauvin, Antoine Chancé, Didier Uriot, and Phu Anh Phi Nghiem

Beyond beam energy and energy spread, transverse beam parameters are crucial in laser-plasma accelerator projects that aim to deliver a high-quality beam to a user's community. In this article, transverse beam physics is thoroughly studied throughout an entire plasma stage, including a plasma densit…

[Phys. Rev. E 113, 045207] Published Thu Apr 02, 2026

Author(s): Jiheon Song, Jeff Candy, Emily Belli, and Jungpyo Lee

The role of zonal flow (ZF) in the turbulence saturation of trapped electron modes (TEM) in magnetically confined plasmas is revisited. In this study, we examine ZF excitation and saturation mechanisms in TEM turbulence using detailed free-energy transfer diagnostics from nonlinear gyrokinetic simul…

[Phys. Rev. E 113, 045201] Published Wed Apr 01, 2026

Author(s): Xufei Xie et al.

Detailed investigation of the x-ray drive on the capsule at the center of the hohlraum is crucial to solve the “drive deficit” problem in inertial confinement fusion. A pioneering work for probing the drive flux at the hohlraum center by simultaneously measuring the re-emitted flux and shock velocit…

[Phys. Rev. E 113, 045202] Published Wed Apr 01, 2026

Author(s): Cunbo Zhang, Zongqiang Ma, Yang Song, Cheng-quan Fu, Zhengfeng Fan, Anmin He, and Pei Wang

Within the equilibrium-diffusion approximation for radiation, we perform a linear stability analysis of the compressible Rayleigh-Taylor instability in a stratified, isothermal background. Radiation alters the growth rate by modulating the fluid's effective compressibility. Radiative diffusion enhan…

[Phys. Rev. E 113, 045203] Published Wed Apr 01, 2026

Author(s): Robert H. Dwyer, K. D. Meaney, B. M. Haines, B. J. Albright, H. Geppert-Kleinrath, J. P. Sauppe, W. Daughton, N. M. Hoffman, C. Forrest, S. P. Regan, and Y. Kim

For high-efficiency inertial confinement fusion implosions, it is predicted that a burning hot spot will successfully encompass all surrounding fuel and then transition into a thermal runaway where the internal energy increase from fusion occurs on a timescale faster than the expansion of the fuel i…

[Phys. Rev. E 113, 035214] Published Fri Mar 27, 2026

Author(s): Alain Ghizzo and Daniele Del Sarto

We investigate the formation of Bernstein-Greene-Kruskal-type E×B staircase equilibrium in the presence of energetic ions. We show that such staircase solutions, which display crucial kinetic features and which propagate like coherent electrostatic structures, represent saturated states of negative …

[Phys. Rev. E 113, 035212] Published Thu Mar 26, 2026

Author(s): Khristina T. Smaznova, Pavel K. Batrakov, Andrey A. Rodionov, and Alexander V. Oginov

A dual-wavelength high-sensitivity laser diagnostic based on a Nd:YAG laser (532 and 1064 nm, pulse duration of 7 ns) was applied to a laboratory high-voltage atmospheric discharge. The applied voltage was 1 MV, and the discharge current reached 10 kA. The discharge gap length was 0.55 m. The electr…

[Phys. Rev. E 113, 035211] Published Wed Mar 25, 2026

Author(s): S. A. Saakyan

Rapidly oscillating, inhomogeneous electromagnetic field from laser exert a force that repels charged particles from regions of high light intensity. We propose and analyze a flat-bottomed hollow-beam ponderomotive optical trap for an ultracold neutral plasma (UNP), driven by a high-power CO2 laser.…

[Phys. Rev. E 113, L033201] Published Wed Mar 25, 2026