Imaging electron angular distributions to assess a full-power petawatt-class laser focus

Ravichandran, Smrithan; Huault, Marine; Lera, Roberto; He, Calvin Z.; Longman, Andrew; Fedosejevs, Robert; Roso, Luis; Hill, Wendell T.

doi:10.1103/physreva.108.053101

Cited by 7 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 44 publications

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“…But these applications require precise knowledge of the intensity of any such laser, a parameter that is difficult to measure, as no known material can withstand the anticipated extreme conditions of the laser beams. Now Wendell Hill at the University of Maryland, College Park, and his colleagues demonstrate a technique that uses electrons to determine this intensity [1].…”

Section: By Ryan Wilkinsonmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Measuring the Intensity of the World’s Most Powerful Lasers

Wilkinson

2023

Physics

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Section: By Ryan Wilkinsonmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The laser's electromagnetic field then propelled these electrons forward and out of the laser beam. The team observed the angular distribution of the ejected electrons in real time using surfaces called image plates that act like Credit: S. Ravichandran et al [1] photographic film.…”

Section: By Ryan Wilkinsonmentioning

confidence: 99%

Measuring the Intensity of the World’s Most Powerful Lasers

Wilkinson

2023

Physics

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“…In addition to radiation reaction (that we understand as the effect of the relativistically emitted radiation of the emitting electron's trajectory), the radiation itself gives very valuable information on the driven electron. This has been deeply studied in the literature [24][25][26][27][28][29]. The emission spectra and other features from those relativistically driven electrons can also give valuable information on the dynamics.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Classical Scattering of High-Energy Electrons off Ultra-Intense Laser Beams Taking into Account Radiation Reaction

Pastor,

Álvarez-Estrada,

Roso

et al. 2024

Photonics

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The head-on scattering of electrons with energies from a few MeV to 5 GeV off ultrashort and ultra-intense laser pulses at petawatt intensities is investigated. Radiation reaction (RR) effects are included through the correction terms given by the Landau–Lifshitz equation. Full paraxial fields for the laser are used, including their longitudinal electric and magnetic components, and both the fundamental Gaussian TEM00 mode as well as the orbital angular momentum (OAM) mode with (l,p)=(1,0) are studied. We compare the expected behavior, as regards the influence of RR, at near-infrared (NIR) and at vacuum ultraviolet (VUV) or X-ray wavelengths.

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Toward direct spatial and intensity characterization of ultra-high-intensity laser pulses using ponderomotive scattering of free electrons

Longman,

Ravichandran,

Manzo

et al. 2023

Physics of Plasmas

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Spatial distributions of electrons ionized and scattered from ultra-low-pressure gases are proposed and experimentally demonstrated as a method to directly measure the intensity of an ultra-high-intensity laser pulse. Analytic models relating the peak scattered electron energy to the peak laser intensity are derived and compared to paraxial Runge–Kutta simulations highlighting two models suitable for describing electrons scattered from weakly paraxial beams (f#>5) for intensities in the range of 1018−1021 W cm−2. Scattering energies are shown to be dependent on gas species, emphasizing the need for specific gases for given intensity ranges. Direct measurements of the laser intensity at full power of two laser systems are demonstrated, both showing a good agreement between indirect methods of intensity measurement and the proposed method. One experiment exhibited the role of spatial aberrations in the scattered electron distribution, motivating a qualitative study on the effect. We propose the use of convolutional neural networks as a method for extracting quantitative information on the spatial structure of the laser at full power. We believe the presented technique to be a powerful tool that can be immediately implemented in many high-power laser facilities worldwide.

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Imaging electron angular distributions to assess a full-power petawatt-class laser focus

Cited by 7 publications

References 44 publications

Measuring the Intensity of the World’s Most Powerful Lasers

Measuring the Intensity of the World’s Most Powerful Lasers

Classical Scattering of High-Energy Electrons off Ultra-Intense Laser Beams Taking into Account Radiation Reaction

Toward direct spatial and intensity characterization of ultra-high-intensity laser pulses using ponderomotive scattering of free electrons

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