A high-resolution coherent transition radiation diagnostic for laser-produced electron transport studies (invited).
High-resolution images of the rear-surface optical emission from high-intensity (I approximately 10(19) W/cm(2)) laser illuminated metal foils have been recorded using coherent transition radiation (CTR). CTR is generated as relativistic electrons, generated in high-intensity laser-plasma interactions, exit the target's rear surface and move into vacuum. A transition radiation diagnostic (TRD) records time-integrated images in a 24 nm bandwidth window around lambda=529 nm. The optical transmission at lambda=1053 nm, the laser wavelength, is 15 orders of magnitude lower than the transmission at the wavelength of interest, lambda=527 nm. The detector is a scientific grade charge-coupled device (CCD) camera that operates with a signal-to-noise ratio of 10(3) and has a dynamic range of 10(4). The TRD has demonstrated a spatial resolution of 1.4 microm over a 1 mm field of view, limited only by the CCD pixel size.
Storm
M
M
Laboratory for Laser Energetics, University of Rochester, Rochester, New York 14623-1299, USA.
Begishev
I A
IA
Brown
R J
RJ
Guo
C
C
Meyerhofer
D D
DD
Mileham
C
C
Myatt
J F
JF
Nilson
P M
PM
Sangster
T C
TC
Stoeckl
C
C
Theobald
W
W
Zuegel
J D
JD