Chinese Optics Letters, 2014, 12 (s2): S23201, Published Online: Dec. 4, 2014
Full-aperture backscatter diagnostics and applications at the Texas Petawatt Laser facility
320.7090 Ultrafast lasers 020.2649 Strong field laser physics 300.6360 Spectroscopy, laser 350.5400 Plasmas
Abstract
In this paper, we present the development and application of a full-aperture backscatter diagnostics system at the Texas Petawatt Laser (TPW) facility. The diagnostic system includes three independent diagnostic stations. With this system, we obtained TPW on-shot focus properties, and high-harmonic spectral emission from solid foils (e.g., Cu and Al) and their Si substrate in an experiment to study laser hole boring, which show the hole-boring mechanism at relativistic intensities. The measured on-target full-power focal spots from ultrathin film targets help determine the optimum target thickness at certain laser contrast parameters for particle acceleration and neutron generation experiment, which is also a relative measurement of shot-toshot intensity fluctuations.
C. Wang, C. Wagner, G. Dyer, E. Gaul, N. Kandadai, N. Riley, D. Kuk, E. McCary, A. Meadows, I. Pomerantz, M. Spinks, T. Borger, A. Bernstein, M. Donovan, M. Martinez, T. Ditmire, Bjorn M. Hegelich. Full-aperture backscatter diagnostics and applications at the Texas Petawatt Laser facility[J]. Chinese Optics Letters, 2014, 12(s2): S23201.