Events in Physics

Laboratory astrophysics with high power lasers

In the past decade, the advent of high power and high intensity laser system, such as the National Ignition Facility laser, extreme matter conditions and technological applications leading to inertial confinement fusion are becoming accessible. A new area of research has opened in which, using simple scaling relations, the astrophysical environment can be effectively reproduced in the laboratory. Here we report the results of such experiments aimed at investigating problems related to the large scale magnetization of the Universe and the crystallization of white dwarfs. We will then explore the use of such lasers in order to recreate the most extreme environments - as the ones occurring during supernova explosions and their connection to turbulence in the circumstellar medium.