Seminars and Lectures
To advertise a seminar, a lecture or a PhD defense, please contact us
March, Wednesday 20th at 11:00, room 509 (5th floor), corridor 24-34
Sorbonne Université, Campus Pierre et Marie Curie, 4 Place Jussieu, 75005, Paris
To assist remotely fill in this form and you will receive a video-conference link just before the meeting.
Studying the magnetic field structure of Andromeda with radio-synchrotron archeology
Etienne Bonnassieux University of Wurzburg, Germany
Galactic magnetic fields play an important role in the formation and evolution of galactic structures, including AGN feedback and cosmic ray diffusion. As such, they are well-studied at GHz frequencies, where most telescopes operate. Observations at lower frequencies are challenging to obtain, but can provide critical constraints on the spectral ageing of cosmic rays as they diffuse through galactic components. The current generation of radio-interferometers, especially SKA pathfinders such as the International LOFAR Telescope, are currently enabling new insights into this window, through their combination of large fields of view, good sensitivity, and high resolution. In this talk, I will give an overview of what the LOFAR view of nearby galaxies can bring us, with a focus on radio-synchrotron ageing and cosmic-ray diffusion; I will finish with a specific example of my own work on the Andromeda galaxy, observed at 144 and 60 MHz.
Short bio. Etienne Bonnassieux is a post-doctoral research fellow at the University of Wurzburg (Germany), who specialises in the study of synchrotron emission at low frequencies with the LOFAR telescope. He obtained his PhD jointly from the Observatoire de Paris and Rhodes University in South Africa, and has previously worked as a post-doctoral fellow at the University of Bologna (Italy), studying galaxy clusters with LOFAR.
March, Tuesday 12th at 11:00, room 509 (5th floor), corridor 24-34
Sorbonne Université, Campus Pierre et Marie Curie, 4 Place Jussieu, 75005, Paris
To assist remotely fill in this form and you will receive a video-conference link just before the meeting.
High-energy neutrino emission from collisionless shocks in black hole coronae
Minh Nhat Ly Osaka University, Japan
Understanding particle acceleration processes is essential for interpreting a wide range of astrophysical phenomena since they emit a broadband of radiation spectra. Recently, proton acceleration in black hole corona has been a growing interest due to the release of 10-year survey data of IceCube Collaboration. The result reports the detection of high-energy TeV neutrinos from NGC 1068, a type-2 Seyfert galaxy, which strongly implies the existence of nonthermal protons within a similar energy range. Many mechanisms are suggested to explain proton acceleration like diffusive shock acceleration (DSA) processes. However, the studies on DSA scenarios so far have been limited to using an ideal analytic model of DSA which does not resolve proton acceleration in a self-consistent manner. To address this, we aim to use particle-in-cell (PIC) simulations to investigate particle acceleration and subsequent high-energy neutrino production in NGC 1068, comparing these simulations with observational data to explore the possibility of neutrino production within the DSA scenario.
Short bio. I’m a PhD student from the Institute of Laser Engineering, Osaka University. My current interest is particle acceleration by collisionless shock in astrophysical environments. Previously, I earned my Master's degree at the same institute, specializing in collisionless electrostatic shocks driven by lasers in laboratory conditions.
February, Tuesday 27th at 11:00, room 509 (5th floor), corridor 24-34
Sorbonne Université, Campus Pierre et Marie Curie, 4 Place Jussieu, 75005, Paris
To assist remotely fill in this form and you will receive a video-conference link just before the meeting.
Partially ionised shocks with collisional and radiative ionisation and recombination
Ben Snow, University of Exeter. UK
Explosive phenomena are known to trigger a wealth of shocks in warm plasma environments, including the solar chromosphere and molecular clouds where the medium consists of both ionised and neutral species. Partial ionisation is critical in determining the behaviour of shocks, since the ions and neutrals locally decouple, allowing for substructure to exist within the shock. Accurately modelling partially ionised shocks requires careful treatment of the ionised and neutral species, and their interactions. Here I present a study of a partially-ionised switch-off slow-mode shock using a multi-level hydrogen model with both collisional and radiative ionisation and recombination rates that are implemented into the two-fluid (PIP) code, and study physical parameters that are typical of the solar chromosphere .The multi-level hydrogen model differs significantly from MHD solutions due to the macroscopic thermal energy loss during collisional ionisation. In particular, the plasma temperature both post-shock and within the finite-width is significantly cooler that the post-shock MHD temperature. Furthermore, in the mid to lower chromosphere, shocks feature far greater compression than their single-fluid MHD analogues. The decreased temperature and increased compression reveal the importance of non-equilibrium ionised in the thermal evolution of shocks in partially ionised media. Since partially ionised shocks are not accurately described by the Rankine-Hugoniot shock jump conditions, it may be incorrect to use these to infer properties of lower atmospheric shocks.
February, Monday 12th at 11:00, room 509 (5th floor), corridor 24-34
Sorbonne Université, Campus Pierre et Marie Curie, 4 Place Jussieu, 75005, Paris
To assist remotely fill in this form and you will receive a video-conference link just before the meeting.
Overview of experimental and numerical capabilities at Imperial College London
Niki Chaturvedi, Centre for Inertial Sciences (CIFS), Imperial College London, United Kingdom
This talk will provide an overview of the experimental and numerical capabilities within the Plasma Physics group at Imperial College London (ICL). The group hosts the MAGPIE facility, a mega-ampere class (1.4 MA in 240 ns equivalent to 1 TW power) pulsed-power generator, used for the study of several purposes including laboratory astrophysics. Typical loads fielded on this generator are wire arrays, which can be used in the standard ‘imploding’ or inverse ‘exploding’ configuration. An overview of recent experiments using both configurations are provided, which have been used as platforms to study x-ray driven ablation and magnetised flow physics respectively. The latter has been used for collisional magnetic reconnection experiments, which are now also being performed on Z generator (20 MA facilitiy) at Sandia National Laboratories as part of the MARZ (Magnetic Reconnection on Z) campaign to investigate the radiatively-cooled regime. The group also houses smaller, 10-100 kA class generators that are versatile devices used for fundamental science studies, and as portable diagnostic devices to perform radiography on other pulsed-power experiments.
The CIFS team develops complementary numerical capabilities, primilarly the 3D radiative resistive-MHD code, Chimera (previously referred to as Gorgon). Chimera is typically used to simulate pulsed-power experiments and laser-driven ICF (inertial confinement fusion) experiments such as performed on the NIF (National Ignitional Facility). The code has several multiphysics capabiilties, and an overview will be provided of recent improvements to some relevant to laboratory physics experiments, specifically radiation models and Hall physics. Simulations of more complex load geometries will additionally be presented, as enabled by the static mesh refinement (SMR) capability developed by the author. Specifically, 3D simulations of X-pinches and wire-array driven magnetic reconnection will be presented at previously unattained resolutions.
Short bio. I received a BSc in Physics and MSc in Computational Methods in Aeronautics at Imperial College London (ICL), after which I worked at First Light Fusion in Oxford as a Numerical Physicist, developing their in-house hydrodynamics and MHD codes. I have since obtained my PhD in the Plasma Physics group at ICL, and currently hold a postdoctoral position there to develop the in-house MHD code for pulsed-power applications.
January, Friday 26th at 14:00, Salle Denisse (ex-Atelier) Observatoire de Paris.
How does cosmic-ray transport affect the physics of the interstellar medium ?
V. H. Minh PHAN, LERMA, Observatoire de Paris
It has long been suggested that cosmic rays can play an essential role in setting the chemistry and even dynamics of the interstellar medium. This is partially because these particles are the only agent capable of ionizing the interior of dense molecular clouds where new stars are forming. In other words, cosmic rays control the ionization rate which is a key parameter in regulating the abundances of different chemical species in star-forming regions. The ionization rate also determines the coupling between gas and magnetic fields which is of critical importance for the process of planet and star formation. Modeling the cosmic-ray induced ionization rate is, however, challenging as it requires knowledge on cosmic-ray transport on various scales, from within star-forming regions to large galactic scales. In this talk, I will provide a brief summary of our current understanding on galactic cosmic-ray transport and its implications for the physics of the interstellar medium.
February, Monday 13th 2023 at 11:00, Salle de Conference, LULI, Bât. 84, Ecole Polytechnique.
Laser-electron beam collisions from classical to QED regime of interaction - focus on spatio-temporal effects
Marija Vranic, Group of Laser and Plasmas at Instituto de Plasmas e Fusão Nuclear
The next generation of lasers will access intensities above 10^23 W/cm^2. When plasmas or relativistic electron beams interact with these lasers, energy loss due to radiation emission, or quantum effects such as electron-positron pair creation become important for their dynamics. I will introduce a QED module coupled with the particle-in-cell framework OSIRIS that allows studying nonlinear plasma dynamics in the transition from the classical to the quantum-dominated regime of interaction. Laser–electron beam collisions in weakly quantum regime can be studied already by focusing a 1 PW optical laser to a spot smaller than 10 μm. Spatial synchronization is a challenge because of the Poynting instability that can be a concern both for the interacting electron beam (if laser-generated) and the scattering laser. One strategy to overcome this problem is to use an electron beam coming from an accelerator (e.g., the planned E-320 experiment at FACET-II). However, even using a stable accelerator beam, the plane wave approximation is too simplistic to describe the laser–electron scattering. This work extends analytical scaling laws for pair production, previously derived for the case of a plane wave and a short electron beam. We consider a focused laser beam colliding with electron beams of different shapes and sizes. The results take the spatial and temporal synchronization of the interaction into account, can be extended to arbitrary beam shapes, and prescribe the optimization strategies for near-future experiments.
About the speaker. Marija Vranic obtained her MSc degree from University of Belgrade, Serbia and her PhD at Instituto Superior Tecnico in Lisbon, Portugal. After PhD, she was working in Extreme Light Infrustructure in Prague, Czech Republic, and then returned to Portugal. Her research is focused on plasmas in extreme conditions, where quantum effects can affect the collective plasma dynamics. She combines analytical theory and massively parallel computer simulations to perform the studies relevant for state-of-the-art and near-future laser experiments using intense lasers. Marija is a winner of the international John Dawson PhD thesis prize (best PhD thesis worldwide in the field of plasma-based accelerators), the IBM Scientific Prize, Ada Lovelace PRACE award and IUPAP prize for Plasma Physics.
February, Monday 6th 2023 at 11:00, room 509 (5th floor), corridor 24-34
Sorbonne Université, Campus Pierre et Marie Curie, 4 Place Jussieu, 75005, Paris
To assist remotely fill in this form and you will receive a video-conference link just before the meeting.
Kinetic model of pair cascades in pulsar polar caps
Thomas Grismayer, Group of Laser and Plasmas at Instituto de Plasmas e Fusão Nuclear
Time-dependent discharges of electron-positron pairs have recently been proposed as a primary ingredient to explain the nature of pulsar radio emission, a longstanding open problem in high-energy astrophysics. During these discharges - positive feedback loops of gamma-ray photon emission via curvature radiation by TeV electrons and positrons and pair production -, the plasma self-consistently develops inductive waves that couple to electromagnetic modes capable of escaping the pulsar dense plasma.
However, a full kinetic model that could predict the growth rate of the cascade, the screening time, and the subsequent emissions is still lacking. First, we show how the kinetic equations can be used to provide such predictions in two setups: (i) uniform electric field and a more realistic vacuum-gap space-time dependent electric field. We show also that the full QED differential probability rates can be approximated by heuristic rate for photon emission and pair creation. All analytical results are illustrated with particle-in-cell simulations performed with OSIRIS. Second, these results are used to interpret new multidimensional simulations including an ab initio description of the Quantum Electrodynamics (QED) effects responsible for hard photon emission and pair production in pair discharges. It is shown that the electromagnetic modes generated during pair discharges present direct imprints of QED and plasma kinetic effects in properties (e.g. frequency, polarisation and Poynting flux angular distribution) that are consistent with observations.
About the speaker. Thomas Grismayer is an expert in theoretical and computational Plasma Physics. Its current research focuses on plasma physics in ultra-intense electromagnetic fields, with applications ranging from laser-plasma interaction to astrophysics of compact objects. Thomas Grismayer has a combined training in kinetic plasma physics and high-performance computing putting him in an advantageous position to tackle problems at the frontier of different physics domains. After being awarded an FCT grant in 2014 (and in 2022), he is now a principal investigator of the Group of Laser and Plasmas at IPFN, where he leads the research endeavor on plasma physics under extreme conditions.
January 26th 2023 at 14:00
IMPMC conference room, corridor 22-23 room 401 (4th floor). Sorbonne Université, Campus Pierre et Marie Curie, 4 Place Jussieu, 75005, Paris
PhD thesis defence
Pair creation in extreme light : highlights on vortex laser beams.
Anthony Mercuri, LULI
Since the invention of the Chirped Pulse Amplification technique, achievable laser intensities never stopped increasing. The upcoming facilities are expected to deliver several PW peak power on a focal spot of a few microns diameter. When particles interact with those extreme electromagnetic fields, nonlinear effects of a quantum nature can be dominant, described by the so-called strong-field quantum electrodynamics (SFQED). Among the prediction of SFQED two phenomena in particular attracted the interest of the community over the last decade. The first one, the nonlinear Compton scattering process, is the emission of a high energy gamma photon (from a hundred of MeV to tens of GeV) by an electron or a positron interacting with a strong background field. The second one is the nonlinear Breit-Wheeler (NBW) process, that consists in the creation of an electron-positron pair from the conversion of a high energy gamma photon interacting with the strong electromagnetic field.
Thanks to this processes, multi-PW laser facilities open the way to prolific electron-positron pair production in the laboratory. The ultimate goal, although not yet achievable in current facilities, is the creation of an electron-positron pair plasma in the laboratory. This kind of plasma is of interest from a fundamental point of view for its exotic properties, but also because it is present in the astrophysical environment.
The common thread in this thesis is the optimisation of pair creation in ultra intense lasers, for which two promising physical configurations achievable in the future were studied. The first one, in the so-called shower-regime, involves the head-on collision of a high intensity laser pulse with a flash of high energy gamma photons. A semi-analytical model was developed for this configuration that takes fully into account the laser pulse spatio-temporal distribution and allows to predict quickly the amount of produced pairs. The model prediction was in excellent agreement with three dimensional Particle-in-cell (PIC) simulations performed with the code SMILEI. A systematic study for different laser pulse configurations was performed, by considering a fixed total pulse energy, to match experimental conditions. In this study Laguerre-Gauss (LG) beams, or vortex beams, were also considered because of their interesting properties, such as a ring shape transverse intensity distribution, and the fact that they carry orbital angular momentum. The study allowed to identify the optimal focalisation in order to maximise pair production that, depending on the total energy available, is not necessarily the tightest focus. General guidelines for upcoming experiments were also provided.
The second configuration studied involves two counter streaming laser beams, with seeding electrons in the focal plane. With this set-up an exponential growth (avalanche) of the pairs’ number can be obtained, as charges are constantly reaccelerated and emit gamma photons, further converted into pairs. The present work re-examined the conditions for the inset of the avalanche in a realistic 3D geometry for the laser pulse, and extended the study to LG beams. We studied semi-analytically the short time (less than a laser period) particle dynamics in the counter streaming lasers and showed that there are large qualitative differences in the onset of the avalanche depending on the field configuration. The growth rate of pair production was derived from 3D PIC simulations and confirmed the qualitative differences. Moreover we showed that -at the same peak intensity- LG beams can have larger growth rates than Gaussian beams. The analysis of the short time particle dynamics allowed to propose a new model to predict the growth rate of the avalanche for an idealised configuration, with the perspective of an extension to a more realistic 3D counter-streaming beams configuration.
Monday 10th of October 2022, at 15:00
Salle 317, 22-23, Sorbonne Université, Campus Pierre et Marie Curie, 4 Place Jussieu, 75005, Paris
PhD thesis defence
Nouvelle classe d’expériences d’astrophysique de laboratoire : Application aux processus d’accrétion autour des étoiles à neutrons
Victor Tranchant, CEA-DAM-DIF et LERMA (Sorbonne Université, Observatoire de Paris)
Les étoiles à neutrons sont sujettes à des sursauts X intenses interagissant avec leur disque d’accrétion environnant. Ce processus complexe n’est pas encore totalement compris, mais, dans des conditions données, ce fort rayonnement mène à la propagation d’ondes radiatives supersoniques dans les régions internes du disque. De nos jours, les propriétés macroscopiques de ces milieux optiquement épais ne peuvent être approchées par des données observationnelles, tandis que les modèles théoriques existants peinent à les décrire rigoureusement. L’astrophysique de laboratoire nous permet alors d’obtenir des nouvelles données servant à améliorer les modèles astrophysiques à l’aide des concepts de similitude. Cependant, utiliser cette approche classique dans le cas de l’interaction sursaut-disque requiert une énergie laser pour le moment inatteignable. Afin de dépasser ces contraintes, j’ai travaillé sur une généralisation des concepts de similitude basée sur la théorie des symétries de Lie. Ces nouveaux outils particulièrement puissants m’ont ainsi permis de déterminer des liens théoriques entre des plasmas de laboratoire et des processus radiatifs à l’échelle astrophysique dans différents régimes physiques. Cette approche constitue un premier pas vers la création d’une plateforme expérimentale appelée MaTaLE (Mapping Theory and Laser Experiments) basée sur des nouvelles techniques de symétries appliquées aux expériences d’astrophysique de laboratoire.
Wednesday 11th of May 2022, at 15:00 Virtual Seminar
You can watch the recorded seminar here
Particle acceleration by pressure anisotropy plasma instabilities: from solar flares to black hole accretion disks
Mario Riquelme, Universidad de Chile
Pressure anisotropies naturally arise in weakly collisional plasmas, and are ultimately limited by the pitch-angle scattering by various pressure anisotropy-unstable, kinetic plasma modes. I will present fully kinetic, particle-in-cell (PIC) plasma simulations of these instabilities, and will show that, in some regimes, their scattering can be highly inelastic and produce significant nonthermal particle acceleration. The presentation will focus on two astrophysical plasma environments: i) the solar corona, where the case of electron acceleration in solar flares will be analyzed, and ii) accretion disks around black holes, where both electron and ion acceleration will be considered. I will review the main evidence for the existence of particle acceleration in these systems, and will discuss the importance that pressure anisotropy instabilities can have in helping explain these acceleration phenomena. Finally, I will also present preliminary simulation results on particle acceleration in accretion disks due to the magnetorotational instability (MRI).
About the speaker. Mario Riquelme obtained his PhD in the Department of Astrophysical Sciences, Princeton University (2012). He then moved for a Postdoc in the Department of Astronomy. UC Berkeley. He is currently Assistant Professor in the Physics Department of the University of Chile.
Wednesday 16th of February 2022, at 14:30, Sorbonne U., Jussieu, room 509, 24-34
Probing strong-field Quantum Electrodynamics with ultra-intense lasers
Luca Fedeli, CEA/LIDy
Quantum Electrodynamics is a cornerstone of modern Physics and has passed the scrutiny of the most stringent tests. Yet, its strong field regime (SF-QED) remains mostly ut of reach of experimental investigation. Indeed, exploring SF-QED would require electromagnetic fields of the order of the so-called "Schwinger field": 1.32e18 V/m, which is more than three orders of magnitude higher than the strongest fields available on Earth: those delivered by ultra-intense femtosecond lasers. At LIDYL we study a strategy to overcome this obstacle: a scheme based on optical devices called "plasma mirrors" curved by radiation pressure to boost the intensities of existing ultra-intense lasers by the Doppler effect and focus them to extreme field intensities [1]. If a secondary target is placed at the focus of those curved plasma mirrors, the boosted beam should accelerate the electrons of the secondary target to relativistic energies, so that the Schwinger field could be attained in their reference frame [2]. We have simulated this scenario with the Particle-In-Cell code WarpX+PICSAR [3,4], on the Summit supercomputer (OLCF, US). Our simulations show that it would be possible to explore SF-QED in otherwise unattainable regimes, with existing or upcoming PetaWatt laser systems, obtaining clear experimental signatures. More recently, we started assessing the feasibility of using Doppler-boosted beams to obtain quantum vacuum signatures[5], namely photon-photon scattering and pair production via the so-called "Schwinger process".
References:
[1] H.Vincenti. Phys. Rev. Lett. 123, 105001 (2019)
[2] L.Fedeli et al. Phys. Rev. Lett. 127, 114801 (2021)
[3] A.Myers et al. Parallel Computing, 108:102833 (2021)
[4] L.Fedeli et al. New J. Phys. (in press). DOI: 10.1088/1367-2630/ac4ef1 (2022)
[5] A.Sainte-Marie et al. (under review). arxiv:2201.09886 (2022)
Seminar organised by Mickael Grech, LULI
Tuesday 7th of December 2021, at 11 am, Virtual Seminar
This seminar will be "virtual", to assist please fill in this form and you will receive a video-conference link just before the meeting.
The Role of Plasma Instabilities in Relativistic Radiation Mediated Shock Waves
Arno Vanthieghem, Stanford University
Relativistic radiation mediated shocks (RRMS) dictate the early emission in numerous transient sources such as supernovae, low luminosity gamma-ray bursts, binary neutron star mergers, and tidal disruption events. These shock waves are mediated by Compton scattering and copious electron-positron pair creation. It has been pointed out recently that a high pair multiplicity inside the shock transition leads to a lepton-baryon velocity separation, prone to plasma instabilities. Here, we present a theoretical analysis of the hierarchy of plasma instabilities growing in an electron-ion plasma loaded with pairs and subject to a radiation force. Our results are validated by kinetic simulations that probe the nonlinear regime of the instabilities, and the lepton-baryon coupling in the turbulent electromagnetic field. Based on this analysis, we derive a reduced transport equation for the particles, that demonstrates nonadiabatic compression in a Joule-like heating process by the joined contributions of the decelerating turbulence, radiation force, and electrostatic field. Our results suggest that the radiation-mediated microturbulence could have important consequences for the radiative signatures of RRMS.
About the speaker. Since October 2019, I am a postdoctoral scholar at SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory/Stanford University to develop theory and numerical simulations of magnetic field dynamics and particle acceleration in plasmas, with connections to both astrophysical sources and laboratory experiments. Before that I was awarded a Lagrange PhD Fellowship to embark on a three-year doctoral program in High-Energy Astrophysics at Institut d’Astrophysique de Paris (IAP) in collaboration with the Commissariat à l’Énergie Atomique (CEA).”
Tuesday 7th of December 2021, at 11 am, Salle de Conférence du LULI (Bât. 84, Ecole Polytechnique)
Direct Measurement of bulk temperature using Inelastic X-ray Scattering at X-ray Free Electron Lasers
Adrien Descamps, SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, USA
Direct and accurate measurements of thermodynamic and transport properties are essential for understanding the behavior of extreme states of matter. While X-ray diffraction measurements at large laser facilities or Free Electron Lasers, such as the LCLS, have allowed in situ measurement of structure and density, the direct measurement of bulk temperature remains a challenge. Here, I will present the development of a platform using inelastic X-ray scattering in a Johann geometry to measure temperature by the use of the principle of detailed balance. A proof-of-principle experiment was conducted at the HED beamline at the European XFEL on resistively heated single crystal diamond at 500 K. This technique was then combined with a cryogenic jet of argon compressed with a short pulse laser at the MEC endstation at LCLS, allowing the direct measurement of the temperature of laser compressed matter.
Monday 15th of November 2021, at 3 pm.
Salle de conférence, Bâtiment Esclangon SCAI - 1er étage, 4 Place Jussieu, 75005 Paris
PhD thesis defence
The non-resonant streaming instability: from theory to experiments
Alexis MARRET
Jury composition
M. Andrea CIARDI, Maître de conférences, Sorbonne Université, Directeur de thèse
M. Roch SMETS, Maître de conférences, Sorbonne Université, Co-Directeur de thèse
M. Julien FUCHS, Directeur de recherche, École Polytechnique, Membre invité
Mme Katia FERRIERE, Directeur de recherche, IRAP, Membre du jury
M. Fabien CASSE, Professeur, Université de Paris, Membre du jury
M. Nuno LOUREIRO, Professor, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Membre du jury
Mme Laurence REZEAU, Professeur, École Polytechnique, Membre du jury
M. Emmanuel D'HUMIERES, Professeur, Université de Bordeaux, Rapporteur du jury
M. Anatoly SPITKOVSKY, Professor, Princeton University, Rapporteur du jury
Keywords : instability, plasma, cosmic rays.
Summary. Cosmic rays can power the exponential growth of a seed magnetic field by exciting instabilities that feed on the kinetic energy of the particles collective streaming motion. Of the different streaming instabilities, the non-resonant mode, also called Bell's mode, has received growing attention as it can amplify the magnetic field well beyond its initial intensity, and generate the necessary turbulence to help confine and accelerate cosmic rays in supernovae remnants and young stellar jets shocks via the first order Fermi mechanism. In general, it can develop in a large variety of environments, ranging from the cold and dense molecular clouds to the hot and diffuse intergalactic medium. This work aims at elucidating the behaviour of the non-resonant cosmic rays streaming instability in such environments, where thermal and collisional effects can substantially modify its growth and saturation. In the first part of this thesis, we describe the instability within fluid theory by highlighting the basic physical mechanism leading to the exponential amplification of electromagnetic perturbations, and obtain analytical predictions for the growth rate for arbitrary ion elements. Owing to its non-resonant nature, a fluid description is a sufficiently accurate model of the instability only when the background plasma temperature is negligible. To study the instability in hot environments, where finite Larmor radius effects are important, we then resort to linear kinetic theory and extend the existing analytical results to the case of demagnetized ions. We find that the unstable wavelengths are not entirely suppressed, but are instead shifted toward larger scales with a strongly reduced growth rate. The linear theory results are confirmed, and extended to the non-linear evolution in the second part of the thesis, by multi-dimensional hybrid-Particle-In-Cell simulations (kinetic ions and fluid electrons). The simulations highlight an important reduction of the level of magnetic field amplification in the hot regime [Marret et al. MNRAS 2021], indicating that it may be limited in hot astrophysical plasmas such as in superbubbles or the intergalactic medium. In colder and denser environments, such as H II regions and molecular clouds, particle collisions in the background plasma must be taken into account. We investigate numerically their impact by including Monte-Carlo Coulomb and neutral collisions in the simulations. We find that in poorly ionized plasmas, where proton-hydrogen collisions dominate, the instability is rapidly suppressed and our results from kinetic simulations confirm quantitatively existing, multi-fluid linear theory calculations. In contrast, we find that in fully ionized plasmas, Coulomb collisions unexpectedly favour the development of the instability by reducing self-generated pressure anisotropies that would otherwise oppose its growth. Numerical simulations are currently the only means to investigate the non-linear evolution of the instability and to obtain quantitative estimates of the saturated magnetic field intensity. The final part of this thesis is devoted to answer the growing need for an experimental verification of the linear theory and simulations predictions. We describe the requirements on the plasma parameters to generate the instability in an experiment, and propose two possible setups based on existing high-power laser facilities, aiming at observing and characterizing the non-resonant mode for the first time in the laboratory.