Bremsstrahlung emission and plasma characterization driven by moderately relativistic laser–plasma interactions. (6th January 2021)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Singh, Sushil; Armstrong, Chris D; Kang, Ning; Ren, Lei; Liu, Huiya; Hua, Neng; Rusby, Dean R; Klimo, Ondřej; Versaci, Roberto; Zhang, Yan; Sun, Mingying; Zhu, Baoqiang; Lei, Anle; Ouyang, Xiaoping; Lancia, Livia; Laso Garcia, Alejandro; Wagner, Andreas; Cowan, Thomas; Zhu, Jianqiang; Schlegel, Theodor; Weber, Stefan; McKenna, Paul; Neely, David; Tikhonchuk, Vladimir; Kumar, Deepak
• Is Part Of: Plasma physics and controlled fusion. Volume 63:Number 3(2021)
• Publication Date: 2021-01-06
• Subjects: bremsstrahlung emission -- laser absorption and plasma characterization -- high intensity laser–plasma interaction -- plasma optics; Plasma (Ionized gases) -- Periodicals; Controlled fusion -- Periodicals; 530.44
• DOI: 10.1088/1361-6587/abcf7e
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0741-3335

Abstract

Abstract: 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 the focused intensity and pre-plasma level. This paper reports experimental results from the interaction of a high intensity petawatt-class glass laser pulses with solid targets at a maximum intensity of 10 19 W cm −2 . In-situ measurements of specularly reflected light are 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.