Coherence-based transverse measurement of synchrotron x-ray radiation from relativistic laser-plasma interaction and laser-accelerated electrons.
We observe Fresnel edge diffraction of the x-ray beam generated by the relativistic interaction of a high-intensity laser pulse with He gas. The observed diffraction at center energy 4.5 keV agrees with Gaussian incoherent source profile of full-width-half-maximum (FWHM) < 8 microm. Analysis indicates this corresponds to an upper limit on the transverse profile of laser-accelerated electrons within the plasma in agreement with three-dimensional, particle-in-cell results (FWHM = 4 microm).
Shah
R C
RC
Laboratoire d'Optique Appliquée, ENSTA, CNRS UMR7639, Ecole Polytechnique, Chemin de la Hunière, 91761 Palaiseau, France. rahul.shah@ensta.fr
Albert
F
F
Ta Phuoc
K
K
Shevchenko
O
O
Boschetto
D
D
Pukhov
A
A
Kiselev
S
S
Burgy
F
F
Rousseau
J-P
JP
Rousse
A
A