Radiation Pressure Driven Ion Weibel Instability and Collisionless Shocks

Abstract: The Weibel instability from counterstreaming plasma flows is a basic process highly relevant for collisionless shock formation in astrophysics. In this Letter we investigate, via two- and three- dimensional simulations, suitable configurations for laboratory investigations of the ion Weibel instability (IWI) driven by a fast quasi-neutral plasma flow launched into the target via the radiation pressure of an ultra-high-intensity (UHI) laser pulse ('Hole-Boring' process). The use of S-polarized light at oblique incidence is found to be an optimal configuration for driving IWI, as it prevents the development of surface rippling observed at normal incidence, that would lead to strong electron heating and favors competing instabilities. Conditions for the evolution of IWI into a collisionless shock are also investigated.