Advanced Diagnostics Applied to a Laser-Driven Electron-Acceleration Experiment

Author

Gamucci, Andrea ; Bourgeois, Nicolas ; Ceccotti, Tiberio ; Dobosz, Sandrine ; Oliveira, Pascal D. ; Galimberti, Marco ; Galy, Jean ; Giulietti, Antonio ; Giulietti, Danilo ; Gizzi, Leonida A. ; Hamilton, David J. ; Labate, Luca ; Marques, Jean-Raphael ; M

Volume

36

Issue

4

fYear

2008

Firstpage

1699

Lastpage

1706

Abstract

In this paper, the interaction of 10-TW laser pulses, focused at moderately relativistic intensity, with a supersonic helium gas-jet has been investigated by varying gas density and jet nozzle. We have successfully tested several advanced diagnostic devices to characterize the plasma and the accelerated electron bunches. Plasma densities have been measured by means of a femtosecond high-resolution interferometer, while the electron beams were analyzed with a stack of radiochromic films, a beam-profile monitor, a magnetic spectrometer, and a nuclear activation setup based on gamma-ray generation via electron bremsstrahlung. We present the results as well as the basic features and relevant details of such diagnostics whose performances can fit a large class of experiments.

Keywords

Electron beams; Gas lasers; Helium; Laser modes; Optical pulses; Plasma accelerators; Plasma density; Plasma devices; Plasma measurements; Testing; Advanced diagnostics; laser–plasma acceleration; plasma measurements;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Plasma Science, IEEE Transactions on

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0093-3813

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/TPS.2008.2000898

Filename

4599205