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We present a high-flux, broadband gamma-ray spectrometry capable of characterizing the betatron radiation spectrum over the photon energy range from 10 keV to 20 MeV with respect to the peak photon energy, spectral bandwidth, and unique discrimination from background radiations, using a differential filtering spectrometer and the unfolding procedure based on the Monte Carlo code GEANT4. These properties are experimentally verified by measuring betatron radiation from a cm-scale laser wakefield accelerator (LWFA) driven by a 1-PW laser, using a differential filtering spectrometer consisting of a 15-filter and image plate stack. The gamma-ray spectra were derived by unfolding the photostimulated luminescence (PSL) values recorded on the image plates, using the spectrometer response matrix modeled with the Monte Carlo code GEANT4. The accuracy of unfolded betatron radiation spectra was assessed by unfolding the test PSL data simulated with GEANT4, showing an ambiguity of less than 20% and clear discrimination from the background radiation with less than 10%. The spectral analysis of betatron radiation from laser wakefield-accelerated electron beams with energies up to 3 GeV revealed radiation spectra characterized by synchrotron radiation with the critical photon energy up to 7 MeV. The gamma-ray spectrometer and unfolding method presented here facilitate an in-depth understanding of betatron radiation from LWFA process and a novel radiation source of high-quality photon beams in the MeV regime. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The phase modulation of a low power long pulse probe laser beam in a rapidly tunnel ionizing gas (helium) under a relativistic short pulse laser is investigated. The relativistic pulse creates a fast increasing plasma density at its front, far ahead of the intensity peak. The probe pulse sees these changes as modulation in its phase and undergoes large frequency upshift. The spectral content of the blueshifted potion of the probe pulse is large when its intensity peak commoves with the ionization front. There are two ionization front created by first and second ionizations, and the separation between the two increases as laser propagates through the gas. The rate of density variation by first and second ionizations, however, is fairly the same and varies little as the spot size of the laser beam increases up to three times its initial value. The ionization front velocity, as well as the upshift in probe pulse frequency, is bigger for sharper laser pulse. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]