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Title: Temporally Resolved Intensity Contouring (TRIC) for characterization of the absolute spatio-temporal intensity distribution of a relativistic, femtosecond laser pulse

Journal Article · · Scientific Reports
 [1]; ORCiD logo [2];  [1];  [1];  [1];  [1];  [3]; ORCiD logo [4]; ORCiD logo [1]
  1. Ludwig-Maximillians-Univ. München, München (Germany)
  2. Ludwig-Maximillians-Univ. München, München (Germany); Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)
  3. Ludwig-Maximillians-Univ. München, München (Germany); Max-Planck-Inst. für Quantenoptik, München (Germany)
  4. Ludwig-Maximillians-Univ. München, München (Germany); Max-Planck-Inst. für Quantenoptik, München (Germany); Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)

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.

Research Organization:
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC)
Grant/Contract Number:
AC02-05CH11231
OSTI ID:
1581344
Journal Information:
Scientific Reports, Vol. 9, Issue 1; ISSN 2045-2322
Publisher:
Nature Publishing GroupCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 8 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

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  • McKenna, Paul; Lindau, Filip; Lundh, Olle
  • Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences, Vol. 364, Issue 1840 https://doi.org/10.1098/rsta.2005.1733
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Cited By (3)

Characterizing extreme laser intensities by ponderomotive acceleration of protons from rarified gas journal February 2020
Single-shot fourth-order autocorrelator journal September 2019
Spatio-temporal characterization of ultrashort laser beams: a tutorial text January 2020