Credit: Jackson Matteucci, Princeton University
Lasers drive the expansion of two plasma bubbles from a solid metal target. Magnetic fields are generated about each plume by the Biermann battery effect. These fields expand with the plumes and collide (center of the figure), resulting in a heated reconnection layer. This local heating at the collision site modifies the local temperature profile, so rather than continuing to generate flux, the Biermann battery effect now destroys the magnetic energy flowing into the reconnection layer and reconnects the field downstream.