Calorimetry techniques for ultra-intense laser-plasma experiments

With ultra-high intensity short pulse lasers generating plasma, new extreme states of matter can be created, and new concepts for particle acceleration, material science, and fusion energy can be explored. A critical component is the characterization of relativistic electrons that are accelerated and transported in the material of the target, generating ultra-intense bremsstrahlung.
Measuring the bremsstrahlung spectrum is a crucial aspect of plasma diagnostics. In this work it is showed how calorimetric techniques, based on longitudinally resolved measurements of energy deposition, are especially suitable for the reconstruction of the photon spectra and how electron dynamics can be studied.
Multi-layered scintillator calorimeters with different readouts are under development at Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf for this purpose. Prototypes have been tested at the ELBE facility both at the gELBE beamline with a well-known bremsstrahlung spectrum and in a laser-plasma environment at DRACO.