Fast magnetic-field annihilation in the relativistic collisionless regime driven by two ultrashort high-intensity laser pulses

Gu, Y. J.*; Klimo, O.*; Kumar, D.*; Liu, Y.*; Singh, S. K.*; Esirkepov, T. Z.; Bulanov, S. V.; Weber, S.*; Korn, G.*

The magnetic quadrupole structure formation during the interaction of two ultrashort high power laser pulses with a collisionless plasma is demonstrated with 2.5-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations. The subsequent expansion of the quadrupole is accompanied by magnetic-field annihilation in the ultrarelativistic regime, when the magnetic field cannot be sustained by the plasma current.