Tunable mega-ampere electron current propagation in solids by dynamic control of lattice melt

MacLellan, David and Carroll, David and Gray, Ross and Booth, Nicola and Burza, Matthias and Desjarlais, M. P. and Du, F and Neely, David and Powell, Haydn and Robinson, A.P.L. and Scott, Graeme Gordon and Yuan, Xiaohui and Wahlstrom, C. -G. and McKenna, Paul (2014) Tunable mega-ampere electron current propagation in solids by dynamic control of lattice melt. Physical Review Letters, 113 (18). 185001. ISSN 1079-7114 (https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.113.185001)

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Abstract

The influence of lattice-melt-induced resistivity gradients on the transport of mega-ampere currents of fast electrons in solids is investigated numerically and experimentally using laser-accelerated protons to induce isochoric heating. Tailoring the heating profile enables the resistive magnetic fields which strongly influence the current propagation to be manipulated. This tunable laser-driven process enables important fast electron beam properties, including the beam divergence, profile and symmetry, to be actively tailored, and without recourse to complex target manufacture.