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A quadrupole lens-free diagnostic is a simple single shot method which can be used to measure the electron beam transverse emittance. LANEX screens are used as profile monitors due to the high yield of visible photons which can be easily detected by standard camera sensors. This type of minimally destructive diagnostics is particularly suitable for electron beams accelerated by the laser wakefield mechanism where the basic parameters of such beams fluctuate shot-to-shot mainly during the beam optimizing process. It allows to simultaneously measure the beam divergence, position, profile, pointing, and charge. The numerical study of the diagnostics performance and applicability range is presented and its limits are discussed. The influence of the LANEX screen multiple Coulomb scattering is studied by means of G EANT4 ; the unfolding procedure for multiple scattering contribution is presented. more...

This paper provides a summary of recent research connected with the shock ignition (SI) concept of the inertial confinement fusion which was carried out at PALS. In the experiments, Cu planar targets coated with a thin CH layer were used. Two-beam irradiation experiment was applied to investigate the effect of preliminary produced plasma to shock-wave generation. The 1ω or 3ω main beam with a high intensity >1015W/cm2generates shock wave, while the other 1ω beam with the intensity below 1014W/cm2creates CH pre-plasma simulating the pre-compressed plasma related to SI. Influence of laser wavelength on absorbed energy transfer to shock wave was studied by means of femtosecond interferometry and measuring the crater volume. To characterize the hot electron and ion emission, two-dimensional (2D) Kα-imaging of Cu plasma and grid collector measurements were used. In single 1ω beam experiments energy transport by fast electrons produced by resonant absorption made a significant contribution to shock-wave pressure. However, two-beam experiments with 1ω main beam show that the pre-plasma is strongly degrading the scalelength which leads to decreasing the fast electron energy contribution to shock pressure. In both the single 3ω beam experiments and the two-beam experiments with the 3ω main beam, do not show any clear influence of fast electron transport on shock-wave pressure. The non-monotonic behavior of the scalelength at changing the laser beam focal radius in both presence and absence of pre-plasma reflects the competition of plasma motion and electron heat conduction under the conditions of one-dimensional and 2D plasma expansion at large and small focal radii, respectively. more...

Since the observation of the first brown dwarf in 1995, numerous studies have led to a better understanding of the structures of these objects. Here we present a method for studying material resistivity in warm dense plasmas in the laboratory, which we relate to the microphysics of brown dwarfs through viscosity and electron collisions. Here we use X-ray polarimetry to determine the resistivity of a sulphur-doped plastic target heated to Brown Dwarf conditions by an ultra-intense laser. The resistivity is determined by matching the plasma physics model to the atomic physics calculations of the measured large, positive, polarization. The inferred resistivity is larger than predicted using standard resistivity models, suggesting that these commonly used models will not adequately describe the resistivity of warm dense plasma related to the viscosity of brown dwarfs., Brown dwarfs are small stars that are believed to be made of a warm dense plasma that cannot support hydrogen fusion as larger stars do. Here, the authors present a method for studying the properties, such as resistivity, of warm dense plasmas in the laboratory. more...

An experiment was performed using the PALS laser to study laser-target coupling and laser-plasma interaction in an intensity regime ≤1016 W/cm2, relevant for the "shock ignition" approach to Inertial Confinement Fusion. A first beam at low intensity was used to create an extended preformed plasma, and a second one to create a strong shock. Pressures up to 90 Megabars were inferred. Our results show the importance of the details of energy transport in the overdense region. © 2014 AIP Publishing LLC. more...

Spatially resolved K-shell spectroscopy is used here to investigate the interaction of an ultrashort laser pulse (lambda = 800 nm, tau = 40 fs) with a Ti foil under intense irradiation (I lambda(2) = 2 x 10(18) W mu m(2) cm(-2)) and the following fast electron generation and transport into the target. The effect of laser pulse polarization (p, s, and circular) on the K alpha yield and line shape is probed. The radial structure of intensity and width of the lines, obtained by a discretized Abel deconvolution algorithm, suggests an annular distribution of both the hot electron propagation into the target and the target temperature. An accurate modeling of K alpha line shapes was performed, revealing temperature gradients, going from a few eV up to 15-20 eV, depending on the pulse polarization. Results are discussed in terms of mechanisms of hot electron generation and of their transport through the preplasma in front of the target. more...

We present a laser-driven source of electron bunches with average energy 260 keV and picosecond duration, which has been setup for radiobiological tests covering the previously untested sub-MeV energy range. Each bunch combines high charge with short duration and sub-millimeter range into a record instantaneous dose rate, as high as 10(9) Gy s(-1). The source can be operated at 10 Hz and its average dose rate is 35 mGy s(-1). Both the high instantaneous dose rate and high level of relative biological effectiveness, attached to sub-MeV electrons, make this source very attractive for studies of ultrafast radiobiology on thin cell samples. The source reliability, in terms of shot-to-shot stability of features such as mean energy, bunch charge and transverse beam profile, is discussed, along with a dosimetric characterization. Finally, a few preliminary biological tests performed with this source are presented. . more...

Spatially resolved K-shell spectroscopy is used here to investigate the interaction of an ultrashort laser pulse (λ=800 nm, τ=40 fs) with a Ti foil under intense irradiation (Iλ(2)=2×10(18)Wμm(2)cm(-2)) and the following fast electron generation and transport into the target. The effect of laser pulse polarization (p, s, and circular) on the Kα yield and line shape is probed. The radial structure of intensity and width of the lines, obtained by a discretized Abel deconvolution algorithm, suggests an annular distribution of both the hot electron propagation into the target and the target temperature. An accurate modeling of Kα line shapes was performed, revealing temperature gradients, going from a few eV up to 15-20 eV, depending on the pulse polarization. Results are discussed in terms of mechanisms of hot electron generation and of their transport through the preplasma in front of the target. more...

Over the past few years, a new X-ray diagnostic technique has been developed by the group of the Intense Laser Irradiation Laboratory of the CNR in Pisa. Here we give a brief description of this new diagnostic tool, which basically allows X-ray spectroscopy of laser-produced plasmas to be performed over a broad photon energy range with a simultaneous 2D spatial resolution. An outline of recent results will be also given in order to assess the diagnostic capabilities. more...

The conditions for achieving the laser acceleration of quasi‐monochromatic ion bunches with present‐day, fs laser systems are theoretically discussed. The study suggests the possibility of achieving quasi‐monochromaticity via irradiation of double‐layer, nano‐structured foils and the conjecture is numerically confirmed by means of two dimensional, Particle‐In‐Cell (PIC) simulations. A feasible setup in order to experimentally validate this approach is thus proposed. more...

The detailed knowledge of fast electron energy transport following interaction with high-intensity, ultra-short laser pulses is a key area for secondary source generation for ELI. We demonstrate polarization spectroscopy at laser intensities up to 1021 Wcm-2. This is significant as it suggests that in situ emission spectroscopy may be used as an effective probe of fast electron velocity distributions in regimes relevant to electron transport in solid targets. Ly-α doublet emission of nickel (Z = 28) and sulphur (Z = 16) is observed to measure the degree of polarization from the Ly-α1 emission. Ly-α2 emission is unpolarized, and as such acts as a calibration source between spectrometers. The measured ratio of the X-ray σ-and π-polarization allows the possibility to infer the velocity distribution function of the fast electron beam. © 2010 American Institute of Physics. more...

Pin-hole arrays are used for a variety of applications including, for example, X-ray imaging of laser-plasmas for fusion relevant studies [1]. More recently, a novel X-ray imaging technique has been proposed (this conference L.A. Gizzi et al.) within the High Power Laser Energy Research Facility (HiPER) to obtain spectrally resolved X-ray imaging [2] using single photon detection [3]. This technique requires a large number of images or, alternatively, large arrays of pin-holes, possibly with very small diameter («10 μm) [4]. In view of this, a technique was implemented for the fabrication of large arrays of pin-holes in thick metal substrates. Here we report on the optimizations of the laser-matter interaction process to obtain high aspect ratio cylinder-like pin-hole on heavy metal substrate by using a frequency-doubled Ti:Sa femtosecond laser pulses operating at 10Hz. The influence of an air breakdown and a (ns)prepulse, on the drilled pin-hole, is showed by means of SEM images both for surface effects and internal quality of the channels, with evidence of micro and nano-sized structures. The holes drilled at an intensity just below the laser breakdown threshold for plasma creation in air, have an internal diameter of about 3 μm on a W substrate of 70 μm thickness, a micro-cylinder-like shape and no detectable deviations of the axis from a straight line. Arrays of up to 800 pin-holes were produced with the pin-hole properties being highly stable across the array. The final X-ray transmission is showed by using a μ-focus X-ray source. © 2010 American Institute of Physics. more...

A technique enabling in situ measurements of the spectrum of X-ray tubes employed in mammographic screenings is described. The technique involves the use of a commercially available CCD camera and a set of metal foils and is particularly useful to perform a fast evaluation of the spectral properties of a Mo anode mammographic system operating at standard flux levels. A description of the detector calibration procedure is first given, followed by a discussion of the study and choice of an appropriate set of X-ray attenuation foils. Finally, the use of the system for a spectroscopic characterization of a mammographic system is reported. more...

Spectrally resolved two-dimensional imaging of ultrashort laser-produced plasmas is described, obtained by means of an advanced technique. The technique has been tested with microplasmas produced by ultrashort relativistic laser pulses. The technique is based upon the use of a pinhole camera equipped with a CCD detector operating in the single-photon regime. The spectral resolution is about 150 eV in the 4-10 keV range and images in any selected photon energy range have a spatial resolution of 5 ?m. The potential of the technique to study fast electron propagation in ultraintense laser interaction with multilayer targets is discussed and some preliminary results are shown. more...

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0207926.].