Electric field detection in laser-plasma interaction experiments via the proton imaging technique

Year: 2002

Authors: Borghesi M., Campbell D.H., Schiavi A., Haines M.G., Willi O., MacKinnon A.J., Patel P., Gizzi L.A., Galimberti M., Clarke R.J., Pegoraro F., Ruhl H., Bulanov S.

Autors Affiliation: Queens Univ Belfast, Dept Pure & Appl Phys, Belfast BT7 1NN, Antrim North Ireland;
Univ London Imperial Coll Sci Technol & Med, Blackett Lab, London SW7 2BZ, England;
Univ Dusseldorf, Inst Laser & Plasmaphys, D-4000 Dusseldorf, Germany;
Lawrence Livermore Natl Lab, Livermore, CA USA;
CNR, Ist Fis Atom & Mol, Intense Laser Irradiat Lab, I-56100 Pisa, Italy;
Rutherford Appleton Lab, Cent Laser Facil, Chilton OX11 0QX, England;
Univ Pisa, Dipartimento Fis, Pisa, Italy;
INFM, Pisa, Italy;
Gen Atom Co, San Diego, CA USA;
Russian Acad Sci, Inst Gen Phys, Moscow, Russia

Abstract: Due to their particular properties, the beams of the multi-MeV protons generated during the interaction of ultraintense (I>10(19) W/cm(2)) short pulses with thin solid targets are most suited for use as a particle probe in laser-plasma experiments. The recently developed proton imaging technique employs the beams in a point-projection imaging scheme as a diagnostic tool for the detection of electric fields in laser-plasma interaction experiments. In recent investigations carried out at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory (RAL, UK), a wide range of laser-plasma interaction conditions of relevance for inertial confinement fusion (ICF)/fast ignition has been explored. Among the results obtained will be discussed: the electric field distribution in laser-produced long-scale plasmas of ICF interest; the measurement of highly transient electric fields related to the generation and dynamics of hot electron currents following ultra-intense laser irradiation of targets; the observation in underdense plasmas, after the propagation of ultra-intense laser pulses, of structures identified as the remnants of solitons produced in the wake of the pulse. (C) 2002 American Institute of Physics.

Journal/Review: PHYSICS OF PLASMAS

Volume: 9 (5) part 2      Pages from: 2214  to: 2220

KeyWords: relativistic ion; collimated beams; acceleration; generation; pulses
DOI: 10.1063/1.1459457

ImpactFactor: 2.212
Citations: 391
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