Bremsstrahlung emission and plasma characterization driven by moderately relativistic laser-plasma interactions


Bremsstrahlung emission and plasma characterization driven by moderately relativistic laser-plasma interactions

Singh, S. K.; Armstrong, C.; Kang, N.; Ren, L.; Liu, H.; Hua, N.; Rusby, D. R.; Klimo, O.; Versaci, R.; Zhang, Y.; Sun, M.; Zhu, B.; Lei, A.; Ouyang, X.; Lancia, L.; Laso Garcia, A.; Wagner, A.; Cowan, T. E.; Schlegel, T.; Weber, S.; McKenna, P.; Neely, D.; Tikhonchuk, V. T.; Kumar, D.; Zhu, J.

Relativistic electrons generated by the interaction of petawatt-class short laser pulses with solid targets can be used to generate bright X-rays via bremsstrahlung. The efficiency of laser energy transfer into these electrons depends on multiple parameters including focused intensity and pre-plasma level. This paper describes the experimental results from the interaction of a high intensity petawatt-class glass laser with solid targets at a maximum intensity of 10^19 W/cm^2. In-situ measurements of specularly reflected light were used to provide an upper bound of laser absorption and to characterize focused laser intensity, the pre-plasma level and the generation mechanism of second harmonic light. The measured spectrum of electrons and bremsstrahlung radiation provide information about the efficiency of laser energy transfer.

Keywords: Plasma Physics; Bremsstrahlung; High intensity laser

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Permalink: https://www.hzdr.de/publications/Publ-32027
Publ.-Id: 32027