Detecting Solenoidal Plasma Turbulence via Laser Polarization Rotation.

Authors

Kenan Qu, Nathaniel J Fisch

Published in

Physical review letters. Volume 137. Issue 3. Pages 035101. Jul 17, 2026.

Abstract

Recent theoretical studies suggest that solenoidal turbulence can significantly enhance fusion reactivity, yet no standard diagnostic exists to directly measure these solenoidal flows in high-energy-density plasmas, nor to distinguish between solenoidal and compressional turbulence. We propose a method that directly diagnoses the energy and spatial structure of this rotational turbulence using the cross-polarization scattering of a probe laser. By coupling to the plasma vorticity, the scattering generates a cross-polarized signal proportional to the turbulent vorticity, effectively acting as a calorimeter for shear flows. We identify a diffractive scattering signature analogous to "Debye-Scherrer ring" that reveals the eddy size distribution. We show that this technique is applicable to National Ignition Facility (NIF) implosion conditions and other high-energy-density scenarios.

PMID:
42537092
Bibliographic data and abstract were imported from PubMed on 01 Aug 2026.

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