Determining the short laser pulse contrast based on X-Ray emission spectroscopy

TY - JOUR

T1 - Determining the short laser pulse contrast based on X-Ray emission spectroscopy

AU - Martynenko, A. S.

AU - Skobelev, I. Yu

AU - Pikuz, S. A.

AU - Ryazantsev, S. N.

AU - Baird, C.

AU - Booth, N.

AU - Doehl, L.

AU - Durey, P.

AU - Farley, D.

AU - Kodama, R.

AU - Lancaster, K.

AU - McKenna, P.

AU - Murphy, C.

AU - Spindloe, C.

AU - Pikuz, T. A.

AU - Woolsey, N.

N1 - © 2021 Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an author-produced version of the published paper. Uploaded in accordance with the publisher’s self-archiving policy. Funding Information: The study was done under financial support of Russian Foundation for Basic Research (grant# 20-02-00790) and in the frame of the State Assignment to JIHT RAS (topic #075-00892-20-00). The work of UK team received financial support from UK EPSRC grants EP/L01663X/1 and EP/H012605/1 . Publisher Copyright: © 2021 Copyright: Copyright 2021 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.

PY - 2021/3

Y1 - 2021/3

N2 - The interaction of high-power short lasers with solid density targets is an important application of modern solid state lasers. However, uncertainties in measurements due to lack of information on the laser pedestal-to-peak contrast limits the validity of many conclusions. We show that X-ray spectral measurements can provide a straightforward way for accessing the laser pedestal-to-peak contrast. The experiments use silicon targets and relativistic laser intensities of 3 × 1020 W/cm2 with a pulse duration of 1 ps. By not using or using a plasma mirror we compare low and high contrast measurements of the Ly-α line and its satellites to show that these lines are an effective laser contrast diagnostic. This diagnostic has potential to reduce uncertainty in future laser-solid interaction studies.

AB - The interaction of high-power short lasers with solid density targets is an important application of modern solid state lasers. However, uncertainties in measurements due to lack of information on the laser pedestal-to-peak contrast limits the validity of many conclusions. We show that X-ray spectral measurements can provide a straightforward way for accessing the laser pedestal-to-peak contrast. The experiments use silicon targets and relativistic laser intensities of 3 × 1020 W/cm2 with a pulse duration of 1 ps. By not using or using a plasma mirror we compare low and high contrast measurements of the Ly-α line and its satellites to show that these lines are an effective laser contrast diagnostic. This diagnostic has potential to reduce uncertainty in future laser-solid interaction studies.

KW - Laser contrast control

KW - Plasma diagnostics

KW - Relativistic laser plasma

KW - Strong field laser physics

KW - X-ray emission spectroscopy

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85100023539&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1016/j.hedp.2021.100924

DO - 10.1016/j.hedp.2021.100924

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:85100023539

SN - 1574-1818

VL - 38

JO - HIGH ENERGY DENSITY PHYSICS

JF - HIGH ENERGY DENSITY PHYSICS

M1 - 100924

ER -