US: Powerful X-rays capture fusion plasma instability in a first

Researchers at SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory have, for the first time, captured detailed real-time images of a plasma instability known as the current filamentation instability in high-density plasmas. Using SLAC’s powerful Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS) X-ray laser, the team developed a novel experimental platform that overcomes the challenge of imaging dense plasmas, which are opaque to conventional methods. By firing a high-intensity laser at thin wire targets to create dense plasma and then using ultrafast X-ray pulses to take snapshots every 500 femtoseconds, the researchers visualized micrometer-scale filament patterns formed by the interaction of hot and cold electron streams. This breakthrough provides unprecedented insight into how such instabilities form and evolve, which is crucial for improving the efficiency of fusion reactions and understanding cosmic plasma phenomena. The study also revealed that the instability generates extremely strong magnetic fields—around 1,000 Teslas—far exceeding typical magnetic field strengths on Earth. These intense fields are similar to