Thomson scattering measurement of a shock in laser-produced counter-streaming plasmas

We report the first direct measurement of temporally and spatially resolved plasma temperatures at a shock as well as its spatial structure and propagation in laser-produced counter-streaming plasmas. Two shocks are formed in counter-streaming collisionless plasmas early in time, and they propagate opposite directions. This indicates the existence of counter-streaming collisionless flows to keep exciting the shocks, even though the collisional effects increase later in time. The shock images are observed with optical diagnostics, and the upstream and downstream plasma parameters of one of the shocks are measured using Thomson scattering technique. (C) 2013 AIP Publishing LLC.