Observation of Magnetized Soliton Remnants in the Wake of Intense Laser Pulse Propagation through Plasmas

Slowly evolving, regularly spaced patterns have been observed in proton projection images of plasma channels drilled by intense (greater than or similar to 10(19) W cm(-2)) short (similar to 1 ps) laser pulses propagating in an ionized gas jet. The nature and geometry of the electromagnetic fields generating such patterns have been inferred by simulating the laser-plasma interaction and the following plasma evolution with a two-dimensional particle-in-cell code and the probe proton deflections by particle tracing. The analysis suggests the formation of rows of magnetized soliton remnants, with a quasistatic magnetic field associated with vortexlike electron currents resembling those of magnetic vortices.