Optical Diagnostics Applications to Laboratory Astrophysical Research
Year: 2025
Type: article
Abstract: Laboratory astrophysics is an emerging interdisciplinary field bridging high-energy-density plasma physics and astrophysics. Optical diagnostic techniques, leveraging their high spatiotemporal resolution and capability for synchronous multi-physical-field inversion, have become indispensable tools for deciphering extreme plasma dynamics in laboratory astrophysics. This review systematically elaborates on the physical principles and inversion methodologies of key optical diagnostics, including Nomarski interferometry, shadowgraphy, and Faraday rotation. Highlighting frontier progress by our team, we showcase the application of these techniques in analyzing jet collimation mechanisms, turbulent magnetic reconnection, collisionless shocks, and particle acceleration. Future trajectories for optical diagnostic development are also discussed.
Source: Lights
Authors: Wei Sun, Dawei Yuan, Zhe Zhang, Jiayong Zhong, Gang Zhao
Institutions: Beijing Normal University, China Institute of Atomic Energy, Chinese Academy of Sciences, National Astronomical Observatories, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Songshan Lake Materials Laboratory, Institute of Physics, Beijing Normal University, Zhuhai, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences
Language: English
Subfield: Nuclear and High Energy Physics
Field: Physics and Astronomy
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: diamond
Awards: G6855874317, G8051018341
OpenAlex ID: W4415814635