tir159animation

Fusion of two parallel beams propagating in a 0.016nc plasma for a 150 microns initial separation distance. Here we see time-resolved 2D beam spatial distributions of the beams. 0 ps indicates the temporal peak of the pulse. Each 2D transverse beam image is integrated over 30 ps and is rescaled in brightness to the maximum intensity within the image. Each laser pulse has an energy ~20 J (wavelength 1.05 micron, duration 400 ps FWHM, horizontal polarization). They were focused at a maximum intensity of 3*10^14 W.cm^-2 in the centre of a supersonic Helium jet with a 1mm diameter opening.