Powerful nanosecond laser-plasma processes are explored to generate discharge currents of a few 100 kA in coil targets, yielding magnetostatic fields (B-fields) in excess of 0.5 kT. The quasi-static currents are provided from hot electron ejection from the laser-irradiated surface. According to our model, which describes the evolution of the discharge current, the major control parameter is the laser irradiance $I_{\text{las}}{\lambda }_{\text{las}}^2$ . The space-time evolution of the B-fields is experimentally characterized by high-frequency bandwidth B-dot probes and proton-deflectometry measurements. The magnetic pulses, of ns-scale, are long enough to magnetize secondary targets through resistive diffusion. We applied it in experiments of laser-generated relativistic electron transport through solid dielectric targets, yielding an unprecedented 5-fold enhancement of the energy-density flux at 60 μm depth, compared to unmagnetized transport conditions. These studies pave the ground for magnetized high-energy density physics investigations, related to laser-generated secondary sources of radiation and/or high-energy particles and their transport, to high-gain fusion energy schemes, and to laboratory astrophysics.

This work reports measured Stark widths and shifts, and transition probabilities for a large nubmer of Xe i i spectral lines. A pulsed arc was used as a plasma source. The electron density, determined by interferometry at one wavelength, and simultaneously by the Stark broadening of the 5016-Å He i line, covers a range of (0.2–1.8)×${10}^{23}$ ${\mathrm{m}}^{\mathrm{-}3}$. A method is proposed to find simultaneously the plasma temperature and the transition probabilities from relative intensity measurements of spectral lines. Electron temperatures are in the range of 11 000–16 000 K. The measured parameters are compared with experimental data taken from the literature.