Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Article
  • Published:

Turbulent magnetic reconnection generated by intense lasers

Nature Physics volume 19, pages 263–270 (2023)Cite this article

Subjects

Abstract

Turbulent magnetic reconnection is believed to occur in astrophysical plasmas, and it has been suggested to be a trigger of solar flares. It often occurs in long stretched and fragmented current sheets. Recent observations by the Parker Solar Probe, the Solar Dynamics Observatory and in situ satellite missions agree with signatures expected from turbulent reconnection. However, the underlying mechanisms, including how magnetic energy stored in the Sun’s magnetic field is dissipated, remain unclear. Here we demonstrate turbulent magnetic reconnection in laser-generated plasmas created when irradiating solid targets. Turbulence is generated by strongly driven magnetic reconnection, which fragments the current sheet, and we also observe the formation of multiple magnetic islands and flux-tubes. Our findings reproduce key features of solar flare observations. Supported by kinetic simulations, we reveal the mechanism underlying the electron acceleration in turbulent magnetic reconnection, which is dominated by the parallel electric field, whereas the betatron mechanism plays a cooling role and Fermi acceleration is negligible. As the conditions in our laboratory experiments are scalable to those of astrophysical plasmas, our results are applicable to the study of solar flares.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

  • Purchase on Springer Link
  • Instant access to full article PDF
Buy now

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Fig. 1: Laser-driven turbulent magnetic reconnection experiments.
Fig. 2: Current-sheet structures and turbulence spectra from 2D PIC simulations.
Fig. 3: 2D PIC simulation results.
Fig. 4: Electron acceleration mechanisms.

Similar content being viewed by others

Data availability

All data needed to evaluate the conclusions in the paper are present in the paper. Experimental data and simulations are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

Code availability

The EPOCH code is used under UK EPSRC contracts (nos. EP/G055165/1 and EP/G056803/1).

References

  1. Zweibel, E. & Yamada, M. Magnetic reconnection in astrophysical and laboratory plasmas. Annu. Rev. Astron. Astrophys. 47, 291–332 (2009).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  2. Yamada, M., Kulsrud, R. & Ji, H. Magnetic reconnection. Rev. Mod. Phys. 82, 603–664 (2010).

    Article  ADS  MATH  Google Scholar 

  3. Sweet, P. A. The neutral point theory of solar flares. Int. Astron. Union Symp. 6, 123–134 (1958).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Parker, E. N. Sweet’s mechanism for merging magnetic fields in conducting fluids. J. Geophys. Res. 62, 509–520 (1957).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  5. Sych, R. et al. Relationship between wave processes in sunspots and quasi-periodic pulsations in active region flares. Astron. Astrophys. 505, 791–799 (2009).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  6. Gosling, J. T. et al. Prevalence of magnetic reconnection at small field shear angles in the solar wind. Geophys. Res. Lett. 34, 15110 (2007).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  7. Lemen, J. R. et al. The Atmospheric Imaging Assembly (AIA) on the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO). Solar Phys. 275, 17–40 (2012).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  8. Pesnell, W. D., Thompson, B. J. & Chamberlin, P. C. The Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO). Solar Phys. 275, 3–15 (2012).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  9. Bárta, Miroslav et al. Spontaneous current-layer fragmentation and cascading reconnection in solar flares. I. Model and Analysis. Astrophys. J. 737, 24 (2011).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  10. Takasao, Shinsuke et al. Observational evidence of particle acceleration associated with plasmoid motions. Astrophys. J. 828, 103 (2016).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  11. Cheng, X. et al. Observations of turbulent magnetic reconnection within a solar current sheet. Astrophys. J. 866, 64 (2018).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  12. Fox, N. J. et al. The Solar Probe Plus mission: humanity’s first visit to our star. Space Sci. Rev. 204, 7–48 (2016).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  13. Zhao, L. L. et al. Spectral features in field-aligned solar wind turbulence from Parker Solar Probe observations. Astrophys. J. 898, 113 (2020).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  14. Zank, G. P. et al. Turbulence transport in the solar corona: theory, modeling and Parker Solar Probe. Phys. Plasmas 28, 080501 (2021).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  15. Parker, E. N. Topological dissipation and the small-scale fields in turbulent gases. Astrophys. J. 174, 499–510 (1972).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  16. Parker, E. N. Nanoflares and the solar X-ray corona. Astrophys. J. 330, 474–479 (1988).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  17. Vasquez, B. J. et al. Numerous small magnetic field discontinuities of Bartels rotation 2286 and the potential role of Alfvénic turbulence. J. Geophys. Res. 112, 11102 (2007).

    Google Scholar 

  18. Rappazzo, A. F. & Parker, E. N. Current sheets formation in tangled coronal magnetic fields. Astrophys. J. Lett. 773, L2 (2013).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  19. Furth, H. P., Killeen, J. & Rosenbluth, M. N. Finite-resistivity instabilities of a sheet pinch. Phys. Fluids 6, 459–484 (1963).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  20. Bhattacharjee, A., Huang, Yi-Min, Yang, H. & Rogers, B. Fast reconnection in high-Lundquist-number plasmas due to the plasmoid instability. Phys. Plasmas 16, 112102 (2009).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  21. Lazarian, A. & Vishniac, E. T. Reconnection in a weakly stochastic field. Astrophys. J. 517, 700–718 (1999).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  22. Shibata, K. & Tanuma, S. Plasmoid-induced-reconnection and fractal reconnection. Earth Planets Space. 53, 473–482 (2001).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  23. Lin, J. et al. Features and properties of coronal mass ejection/flare current sheets. Astrophys. J. Lett. 658, L123–L126 (2007).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  24. Loureiro, N. F., Schekochihin, A. A. & Cowley, S. C. Instability of current sheets and formation of plasmoid chains. Phys. Plasmas 14, 100703 (2007).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  25. Ye, J. et al. The role of turbulence for heating plasmas in eruptive solar flares. Astrophys. J. 897, 64 (2020).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  26. Zank, G. P. et al. Theory and transport of nearly incompressible magnetohydrodynamic turbulence. Astrophys. J. 835, 147 (2017).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  27. Zank, G. P. et al. Spectral anisotropy in 2D plus slab magnetohydrodynamic turbulence in the solar wind and upper corona. Astrophys. J. 900, 115 (2020).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  28. Nilson, P. M. et al. Magnetic reconnection and plasma dynamics in two-beam laser-solid interactions. Phys. Rev. Lett. 97, 255001 (2006).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  29. Li, C. K. et al. Observation of megagauss-field topology changes due to magnetic reconnection in laser-produced plasmas. Phys. Rev. Lett. 99, 055001 (2007).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  30. Nilson, P. M. et al. Bidirectional jet formation during driven magnetic reconnection in two-beam laser-plasma interactions. Phys. Plasmas 15, 092701 (2008).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  31. Zhong, J. et al. Modelling loop-top X-ray source and reconnection outflows in solar flares with intense lasers. Nat. Phys. 6, 984–987 (2010).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  32. Zhong, J. Y. et al. Relativistic electrons produced by reconnecting electric fields in a laser-driven bench-top solar flare. Astrophys. J. Suppl. 225, 30 (2016).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  33. Rosenberg, M. J. et al. A laboratory study of asymmetric magnetic reconnection in strongly driven plasmas. Nat. Commun. 6, 6190 (2015).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  34. Kuramitsu, Y. et al. Magnetic reconnection driven by electron dynamics. Nat. Commun. 9, 5109 (2018).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  35. Kolmogorov, A. N. The local structure of turbulence in incompressible viscous fluid for very large Reynolds numbers. Doklady Akademiia Nauk SSSR. 30, 301–305 (1941).

    ADS  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  36. Iroshnikov, P. S. Turbulence of a conducting fluid in a strong magnetic field. Soviet Astron. 7, 566–571 (1964).

    ADS  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  37. Kraichnan, R. H. Inertial range spectrum of hydromagnetic turbulence. Phys. Fluids 8, 1385–1387 (1965).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  38. Ng, C. S. & Bhattacharjee, A. Anisotropic MHD turbulence. AIP Conference Proceedings. 932, 137 (2007).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  39. Alexandrova, O. et al. Universality of solar-wind turbulent spectrum from MHD to electron scales. Phys. Rev. Lett. 103, 165003 (2009).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  40. Sahraoui, F. et al. Evidence of a cascade and dissipation of solar-wind turbulence at the electron gyroscale. Phys. Rev. Lett. 102, 231102 (2009).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  41. Kiyani, K. H. et al. Global scale-invariant dissipation in collisionless plasma turbulence. Phys. Rev. Lett. 103, 075006 (2009).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  42. Alexandrova, O. et al. Solar wind turbulent spectrum at plasma kinetic scales. Astrophys. J. 760, 121 (2012).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  43. Kiyani, K. H., Osman, K. T. & Chapman, S. C. Dissipation and heating in solar wind turbulence: from the macro to the micro and back again. Phil. Trans. R. Soc. A 373, 20140155 (2015).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  44. Boldyrev, S. & Perez, J. C. Spectrum of kinetic Alfvén turbulence. Astrophys. J. Lett. 758, L44 (2012).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  45. Told, D. et al. Multiscale nature of the dissipation range in gyrokinetic simulations of Alfvénic turbulence. Phys. Rev. Lett. 115, 025003 (2015).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  46. Cerri, S. S., Servidio, S. & Califano, F. Kinetic cascade in solar-wind turbulence: 3D3V hybrid-kinetic simulations with electron inertia. Astrophys. J. Lett. 846, L18 (2017).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  47. Grošelj, D. et al. Fully kinetic simulation of 3D kinetic Alfvén turbulence. Phys. Rev. Lett. 120, 105101 (2018).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  48. Willingale, L. et al. Fast advection of magnetic fields by hot electrons. Phys. Rev. Lett. 105, 095001 (2010).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  49. Remington, B. A., Drake, R. P. & Ryutov, D. D. Experimental astrophysics with high power lasers and Z pinches. Rev. Mod. Phys. 78, 755–807 (2006).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  50. Fiuza, F. et al. Electron acceleration in laboratory-produced turbulent collisionless shocks. Nat. Phys. 16, 916–920 (2020).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  51. Beyer, K. A. et al. Analytical estimates of proton acceleration in laser-produced turbulent plasmas. J. Plasma Phys. 84, 905840608 (2018).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  52. Jeffrey, NatashaL. S., Fletcher, L. & Labrosse, N. First evidence of non-Gaussian solar flare EUV spectral line profiles and accelerated non-thermal ion motion. Astron. Astrophys. 590, A99 (2016).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  53. Polito, V. et al. Broad non-Gaussian Fe XXIV line profiles in the impulsive phase of the 2017 September 10 X8.3-class flare observed by Hinode/EIS. Astrophys. J. 864, 63 (2018).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  54. Martínez-Sykora, J. et al. On the generation of solar spicules and Alfvénic waves. Science 356, 1269–1272 (2017).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  55. Samanta, T. et al. Generation of solar spicules and subsequent atmospheric heating. Science 366, 890–894 (2019).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  56. Pariat, E. et al. Resistive emergence of undulatory flux tubes. Astrophys. J. 614, 1099–1112 (2004).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  57. Hou, Z. et al. Formation of solar quiescent coronal loops through magnetic reconnection in an emerging active region. Astrophys. J. 915, 39 (2021).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  58. Wang, R. et al. Coalescence of magnetic flux ropes in the ion diffusion region of magnetic reconnection. Nat. Phys. 12, 263–267 (2016).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  59. Zhang, B. & Yan, H. The internal-collision-induced magnetic reconnection and turbulence (ICMART) model of gamma-ray bursts. Astrophys. J. 726, 90 (2011).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  60. Mendoza, M. et al. Modelling the influence of photospheric turbulence on solar flare statistics. Nat. Commun. 5, 5035 (2013).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  61. Arber, T. D. et al. Contemporary particle-in-cell approach to laser-plasma modelling. Plasma Phys. Control. Fusion 57, 113001 (2015).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  62. Fox, W., Bhattacharjee, A. & Germaschewski, K. Fast magnetic reconnection in laser-produced plasma bubbles. Phys. Rev. Lett. 106, 215003 (2011).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  63. Dahlin, J. T., Drake, J. F. & Swisdak, M. The mechanisms of electron heating and acceleration during magnetic reconnection. Phys. Plasmas 21, 092304 (2014).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  64. Wang, H., Lu, Q., Huang, C. & Wang, S. The mechanisms of electron acceleration during multiple X line magnetic reconnection with a guide field. Astrophys. J. 821, 84 (2016).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  65. Drake, J. F., Swisdak, M., Che, H. & Shay, M. A. Electron acceleration from contracting magnetic islands during reconnection. Nature 443, 553–556 (2006).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  66. Drake, J. F., Opher, M., Swisdak, M. & Chamoun, J. N. A magnetic reconnection mechanism for the generation of anomalous cosmic rays. Astrophys. J. 709, 963–974 (2010).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

We acknowledge the Shenguang II staff for operating the laser facility, and the staff at CAEP for providing some diagnostics and target fabrication. We also thank H. Yan from Universitat Potsdam, J. Lin from YAOC and Q.M. Lu from the University of Science and Technology of China for valuable discussions. This work was supported by the National Key RD Program of China (grant nos. 2022YFA1603200 and 2022YFA1603203) and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant nos. 12175018, 12135001, U1930108, 12075030 and 11903006) and the Strategic Priority Research Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (grant no. XDA25030700).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute for Frontiers in Astronomy and Astrophysics, Department of Astronomy, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China

    Yongli Ping, Jiayong Zhong, Bo Han, Wei Sun, Yapeng Zhang, Chunqing Xing, Jianzhao Wang & Zhengdong Liu

  2. Department of Physics, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin, China

    Xiaogang Wang

  3. Key Laboratory of Optical Astronomy, National Astronomical Observatories, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China

    Dawei Yuan & Gang Zhao

  4. Beijing National Laboratory of Condensed Matter Physics, Institute of Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China

    Zhe Zhang, Yutong Li & Jie Zhang

  5. Songshan Lake Materials Laboratory, Dongguan, China

    Zhe Zhang & Yutong Li

  6. Collaborative Innovation Centre of IFSA, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China

    Zhe Zhang, Yutong Li & Jie Zhang

  7. State Key Laboratory of Nuclear Physics and Technology, Center for Applied Physics and Technology, and HEDPS, School of Physics, Peking University, Beijing, China

    Bin Qiao

  8. Center for Advanced Material Diagnostic Technology, and College of Engineering Physics, Shenzhen Technology University, Shenzhen, China

    Hua Zhang

  9. School of Physical Sciences, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China

    Yutong Li

  10. National Laboratory on High Power Lasers and Physics, Shanghai, China

    Jianqiang Zhu

  11. Key Laboratory for Laser Plasmas (Ministry of Education) and School of Physics and Astronomy, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China

    Jie Zhang

Authors
  1. Yongli Ping
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Jiayong Zhong
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Xiaogang Wang
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Bo Han
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Wei Sun
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. Yapeng Zhang
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  7. Dawei Yuan
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  8. Chunqing Xing
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  9. Jianzhao Wang
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  10. Zhengdong Liu
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  11. Zhe Zhang
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  12. Bin Qiao
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  13. Hua Zhang
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  14. Yutong Li
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  15. Jianqiang Zhu
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  16. Gang Zhao
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  17. Jie Zhang
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Contributions

J. Zhong proposed the experiment. The experiments were carried out by B.H., W.S., C.X., J.W. and Z.L. The data were analysed by Y.P., J. Zhong, X.W. and Z.Z. The interference data were measured and analysed by J. Zhong, Y.Z. and D.Y. Numerical simulations were performed by Y.P. and H.Z. Additional theoretical support was provided by Y.L. and B.Q. Y.P., J. Zhong, X.W. and Y.L. contributed to writing of the manuscript. J. Zhu is responsible for running the laser facility. J. Zhang and G.Z. are the proposers and principal investigators of the laboratory astrophysics project.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Jiayong Zhong.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The authors declare no competing interests.

Peer review

Peer review information

Nature Physics thanks Vanessa Polito and the other, anonymous, reviewer(s) for their contribution to the peer review of this work.

Additional information

Publisher’s note Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Extended data

Extended Data Fig. 1 Interferometric image analysis.

a and b, the interferograms in Case I with ds = 200μm and Case II with ds = 400μm respectively, for 1ns after lasers irradiation on the targets, and the bright spots are the laser irradiation positions, where the localised fringe shifts are presented and some darker zones break the fringe which imply the chaotic plasma density. c and d, the electron number density ne normalized by 1018cm−3 from the interferograms (a,b) are performed Abel inversion algorithm. Here, because the fringe is discontinuous, the inversion error is relatively large, especially in the fringe fracture area.

Extended Data Fig. 2 Measurement of magnetic field.

a, the evolution of the magnetic field probed by B-dot located 45mm from the center of the target in Case III where only one side part of target is irradiated by two lases corresponding two spots of the separation distance 400μm.

Extended Data Fig. 3 2D PIC simulation in Case I of the separation 20di.

The up row, the evolution of the magnetic field along X-direction Bx. The middle row, the evolution of the magnetic field along Y-direction By. The Unit of magnetic field is Tesla. The down row, the evolution of the electron number density ne which is normalized by 1024m−3. Here, ωci = eB0/mi is the ion gyro-frequency, and di is the ion inertial scale di = c/ωpi where \({\omega }_{pi}=\sqrt{4\pi {n}_{i}{e}^{2}/{m}_{i}}\), e is the element charge and mi is the ion mass with mi = 100me.

Extended Data Fig. 4 3D PIC simulations.

a and b, magnetic field along Y-direction By and electron number density in Case II where the magnetic and density tube are presented in the current sheet during MR. Here, the Bmax is about 189T and the unit of the electron number density is m−3. c, electron energy spectra in the current sheet which show non-thermal distributions and more energetic electrons in Case II than Case I. d, ion energy spectra in the current sheet and they are Maxwell distributions. dN/dE is the electron/ion energy distribution function.

Supplementary information

Supplementary Video 1

The electron number density evolution from 2D PIC simulation of Case I. Four density bubbles are generated as the lasers turned on, then expanded to form two dense sheaths, and eventually fragmented in the current sheet region.

Supplementary Video 2

The x-component evolution of the magnetic field, Bx versus t, by 2D PIC simulation of Case I. Four bubbles of Bx are created as the lasers turned on, and then expanded to form anti-parallel magnetic field regions. Eventually magnetic islands are generated due to reconnection.

Supplementary Video 3

The y-component evolution of the magnetic field, By versus t, by 2D PIC simulation of Case I. Four bubbles with By in opposite directions are created as the lasers turned on, and expanded. Then the adjacent By on the same side annihilates to form fine magnetic structures where By reconnects to generate islands in the current sheet region.

Rights and permissions

Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Ping, Y., Zhong, J., Wang, X. et al. Turbulent magnetic reconnection generated by intense lasers. Nat. Phys. 19, 263–270 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41567-022-01855-x

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41567-022-01855-x

This article is cited by

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing