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On-target temporal characterization of optical pulses at relativistic intensity.

ABSTRACT: High-field experiments are very sensitive to the exact value of the peak intensity of an optical pulse due to the nonlinearity of the underlying processes. Therefore, precise knowledge of the pulse intensity, which is mainly limited by the accuracy of the temporal characterization, is a key prerequisite for the correct interpretation of experimental data. While the detection of energy and spatial profile is well established, the unambiguous temporal characterization of intense optical pulses, another important parameter required for intensity evaluation, remains a challenge, especially at relativistic intensities and a few-cycle pulse duration. Here, we report on the progress in the temporal characterization of intense laser pulses and present the relativistic surface second harmonic generation dispersion scan (RSSHG-D-scan)-a new approach allowing direct on-target temporal characterization of high-energy, few-cycle optical pulses at relativistic intensity.

SUBMITTER: Leshchenko VE

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6813334 | biostudies-literature | 2019

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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On-target temporal characterization of optical pulses at relativistic intensity.

Leshchenko Vyacheslav E VE Kessel Alexander A Jahn Olga O Krüger Mathias M Münzer Andreas A Trushin Sergei A SA Veisz Laszlo L Major Zsuzsanna Z Karsch Stefan S

Light, science & applications 20191023

High-field experiments are very sensitive to the exact value of the peak intensity of an optical pulse due to the nonlinearity of the underlying processes. Therefore, precise knowledge of the pulse intensity, which is mainly limited by the accuracy of the temporal characterization, is a key prerequisite for the correct interpretation of experimental data. While the detection of energy and spatial profile is well established, the unambiguous temporal characterization of intense optical pulses, an ...[more]

PMID: 31666950

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Project description:Super-intense laser plasma interaction has shown great promise as a platform for next generation particle accelerators and sources for electron, x-rays, ions and neutrons. In particular, when a relativistic intense laser focus interacts with a thin solid density target, ionized electrons are accelerated to near the speed of light (c) within an optical cycle and are pushed in the forward and transverse directions away from focus, carrying a significant portion of the laser energy. These relativistic electrons are effectively collisionless, and their interactions with the ions and surrounding cold electrons are predominantly mediated by collective electromagnetic effects of the resulting currents and charge separation. Thus, a deeper understanding of subsequent high energy ions generated from various mechanisms and their optimization requires knowledge of the relativistic electron dynamics and the fields they produce. In addition to producing MV/m quasi-static fields, accelerating the ions and confining the majority of the electrons near the bulk of the laser target, these relativistic electron currents are subject to plasma instabilities like the Weibel instability as they propagate through the thermal population in the bulk target. In this work, we present high temporal (100 fs) and spatial (1 μm) resolution shadowgraphy video capturing relativistic radial ionization front expansion and the appearance of filamentation radiating from the laser spot within a sub-micron thick liquid sheet target. Filamentation within the region persists for several picoseconds and seeds the eventual recombination and heating dynamics on the nanosecond timescale. A large scale three-dimensional particle-in-cell (PIC) simulation of the interaction revealed the presence of strong magnetic fields characteristic of Weibel Instability, and corroborated the relativistic radial expansion of the ionization front, whose speed was determined to be 0.77c. Both the experimental and simulation results strongly point towards the target field ionization and the outward expanding hot electron current as the cause of the radial expansion.

Dataset Information

On-target temporal characterization of optical pulses at relativistic intensity.

Publications

On-target temporal characterization of optical pulses at relativistic intensity.

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