Nonlocal magnetic-field generation in plasmas without density gradients

Conventional theories of magnetic-field generation by laser pulses in collisional plasmas require the presence of density gradients or anisotropic pressure. Using the first two-dimensional Fokker-Planck code to self-consistently include magnetic fields, we find that magnetic fields can be spontaneously generated when a collisional plasma is nonuniformly heated even though deln = 0 and the pressure is purely isotropic. These magnetic fields, which can become strong enough to significantly affect transport, are attributed to nonlocal effects that are missing in the standard, local theories.