Laboratory simulation of astrophysical magnetic turbulence

Giant magnetic fields (10²-10³ megagauss) are created when a relativistic intensity (>= 10¹⁸ W cm-²), ultrashort laser pulse interacts with plasma created on a solid. Here, we map out the temporal evolution of turbulence in magnetic field. We measure giant magnetic field on a micron scale spatial and femtosecond time resolution using pump-probe Cotton-Mouton polarimetry. The plasma created by an 800 nm laser is probed at density of ~10²² electrons/cc at 266 nm. This density is so far the highest at which plasma probing has been performed. Fourier spectra of the spatial polarigrams show power law behavior indicative of turbulence. Interestingly, the exponent of the power law changes from one value for the initial, fast electron dominated regime to another value at 10s of picoseconds, where ions dominate the behavior. This may be the first time such a transition of the mediation of turbulence has been captured. We present a model and particle-in-cell simulations which reproduce the data very well. Our results mimic observations of kinetic Alfven wave turbulence in earth's magnetosheath, solar flares and solar wind, indicating that we are now opening earth bound laboratory for simulating astrophysical magnetic environments.