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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 15 October 2009
The generation of poloidal magnetic field in an inhomogeneous cold, collisionless plasma by an elliptically polarized Gaussian laser beam is discussed. A field in the range of megagauss is induced by the laser inhomogeneity effect even for a normal incident beam. This field scales as I0 λ, where I0 and λ are the intensity and wavelength of the laser beam, respectively, and is independent of the density profile structure. The small angular correction factor due to focal spot asymmetry scales as ∼I0λ3 and may be significant for a small-sized plasma with a steep density profile. The limitation of our model is discussed, with possible implications.