Abstract
Today’s high-power laser systems are capable of reaching photon intensities up to 1022 W cm−2, generating plasmas when interacting with material. The high intensity and ultrashort laser pulse duration (fs) make direct observation of plasma dynamics a challenging task. In the field of laser-plasma physics and especially for the acceleration of ions, the spatio-temporal intensity distribution is one of the most critical aspects. We describe a novel method based on a single-shot (i.e. single laser pulse) chirped probing scheme, taking nine sequential frames at frame rates up to THz. This technique, to which we refer as temporally resolved intensity contouring (TRIC) enables single-shot measurement of laser-plasma dynamics. Using TRIC, we demonstrate the reconstruction of the complete spatio-temporal intensity distribution of a high-power laser pulse in the focal plane at full pulse energy with sub-picosecond resolution.
Highlights
It should be noted that the probe beam is coupled out in the vacuum chamber and has been in air for the determination of the zero timing
If a specific plasma size is observed in two different frames of both nine-frame images, one can check for the change in the frame number and unambiguously correlate frame-number and temporal delay
The threshold intensity was determined by focusing the main laser pulse onto a 200 nm thick plastic foil with a peak intensity that was calculated via equation 4
Summary
The zero timing describes the coincidence of the incident of probe and main pulse on the target. A high-power laser pulse can generate an air plasma when a certain intensity threshold[50] is reached. The laser intensity was diminished until the air plasma was solely visible in one or two of the nine frames and marking the peak of the laser pulse with an accuracy of ±222 fs.
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