The fully kinetic Biermann battery and associated generation of pressure anisotropy

The dynamical evolution of a fully kinetic, collisionless system with imposed background density and temperature gradients is investigated analytically. The temperature gradient leads to the generation of temperature anisotropy, with the temperature along the gradient becoming larger than that in the direction perpendicular to it. This causes the system to become unstable to pressure anisotropy driven instabilities, dominantly to electron Weibel. When both density and temperature gradients are present and non-parallel to each other, we obtain a Biermann-like linear in time magnetic field growth. Accompanying particle in cell numerical simulations are shown to confirm our analytical results.Comment: 5 pages, 2 figures, + Supplementary materials (4 pages, 2 figures

Controlled Shock Shells and Intracluster Fusion Reactions in the Explosion of Large Clusters

The ion phase-space dynamics in the Coulomb explosion of very large ($\sim 10^6 - 10^7$ atoms) deuterium clusters can be tailored using two consecutive laser pulses with different intensities and an appropriate time delay. For suitable sets of laser parameters (intensities and delay), large-scale shock shells form during the explosion, thus highly increasing the probability of fusion reactions within the single exploding clusters. In order to analyze the ion dynamics and evaluate the intracluster reaction rate, a one-dimensional theory is used, which approximately accounts for the electron expulsion from the clusters. It is found that, for very large clusters (initial radius $\sim$ 100 nm), and optimal laser parameters, the intracluster fusion yield becomes comparable to the intercluster fusion yield. The validity of the results is confirmed with three-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations.Comment: 25 pages, 11 figures, to appear in Physical Review

Spin dependent transport in organic light-emitting diodes

Electrically Detected Magnetic Resonance (EDMR) was used to study a series of multilayer organic devices based on aluminum (III) 8-hydroxyquinoline. These devices were designed to identify the micoscopic origin of different spin dependent process, i.e. hopping and exciton formation. EDMR is demonstrated to probe molecular orbitals of charge, and thus indirectly explore interfaces, exciton formation, charge accumalation and electric fields in operating organic based devices

The impact of kinetic effects on the properties of relativistic electron-positron shocks

We assess the impact of non-thermally shock-accelerated particles on the magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) jump conditions of relativistic shocks. The adiabatic constant is calculated directly from first principle particle-in-cell simulation data, enabling a semi-kinetic approach to improve the standard fluid model and allowing for an identification of the key parameters that define the shock structure. We find that the evolving upstream parameters have a stronger impact than the corrections due to non-thermal particles. We find that the decrease of the upstream bulk speed yields deviations from the standard MHD model up to 10%. Furthermore, we obtain a quantitative definition of the shock transition region from our analysis. For Weibel-mediated shocks the inclusion of a magnetic field in the MHD conservation equations is addressed for the first time

Exploring the nature of collisionless shocks under laboratory conditions

Collisionless shocks are pervasive in astrophysics and they are critical to understand cosmic ray acceleration. Laboratory experiments with intense lasers are now opening the way to explore and characterise the underlying microphysics, which determine the acceleration process of collisionless shocks. We determine the shock character - electrostatic or electromagnetic - based on the stability of electrostatic shocks to transverse electromagnetic fluctuations as a function of the electron temperature and flow velocity of the plasma components, and we compare the analytical model with particle-in-cell simulations. By making the connection with the laser parameters driving the plasma flows, we demonstrate that shocks with different and distinct underlying microphysics can be explored in the laboratory with state-of-the-art laser systems

Temperature dependence of antiferromagnetic susceptibility in ferritin

We show that antiferromagnetic susceptibility in ferritin increases with temperature between 4.2 K and 180 K (i. e. below the N\'{e}el temperature) when taken as the derivative of the magnetization at high fields ($30\times10^4$ Oe). This behavior contrasts with the decrease in temperature previously found, where the susceptibility was determined at lower fields ($5\times10^4$ Oe). At high fields (up to $50 \times10^4$ Oe) the temperature dependence of the antiferromagnetic susceptibility in ferritin nanoparticles approaches the normal behavior of bulk antiferromagnets and nanoparticles considering superantiferromagnetism, this latter leading to a better agreement at high field and low temperature. The contrast with the previous results is due to the insufficient field range used ($< 5 \times10^4$ Oe), not enough to saturate the ferritin uncompensated moment.Comment: 7 pages, 7 figures, accepted in Phys. Rev.