Formation of high-speed electron jets as the evidence for magnetic reconnection in laser-produced plasma

Experiments about the flow-driven magnetic reconnection in high-energy-density laser-produced plasmas have recently been conducted on different platforms of giant laser facilities. In this paper, we perform two-dimensional (2D) particle-in-cell simulations to study the interactions of two colliding laser-produced plasma bubbles with a self-generated toroidal magnetic field. Two cases are investigated: in one case, the two plasma bubbles have an anti-parallel magnetic field (AP-case) in the colliding region, and in the other case, the two interacting parts of the magnetic field are configured parallel to each other (P-case). In both cases, the quadrupole structure of the out-of-plane magnetic field is observed, as well as the Hall electric field and the electron energization in the colliding region. However, only in the AP-case, three well-collimated in-plane electron jets are observed. Two electron jets along the magnetic field at the edge of the plasma bubbles are formed because the electrons are trapped...