OMEGA Ring-Laser Experiment Produces Stable Megagauss Jets Extending Beyond 4 mm

The configuration exploits azimuthal symmetry and inverse bremsstrahlung heating to launch a cylindrical blast wave whose frozen-in Biermann-generated field reaches megagauss strength within the first nanosecond. Because the drive is distributed rather than point-focused, the jet avoids the usual hydrodynamic instabilities that destroy laboratory jets after 1–2 mm. Dimensionless parameters—Mach number ~10, magnetic Reynolds number >100, and plasma beta ~0.1—overlap the regime of young stellar object jets, enabling direct scaling studies that single-beam or hohlraum platforms cannot access.

Prior laser-jet work relied on conical targets or wire arrays whose imposed fields or short lifetimes limited comparison to astrophysical flows. The ring geometry decouples magnetic-field generation from the drive symmetry, producing a shear layer whose Kelvin–Helmholtz growth can now be measured under controlled magnetization. This addresses a long-standing gap between simulation predictions and laboratory data on magnetic draping and shock-mediated particle acceleration.

The platform immediately supports magnetized shock and reconnection experiments by inserting secondary targets or pulsed fields. Within two years, adding Thomson scattering and proton radiography should quantify field amplification and dissipation rates at the jet boundary, providing benchmarks for codes used in both inertial fusion and astrophysical modeling.