Understanding the dynamics of rapidly varying electromagnetic fields in intense short pulse laser plasma interactions is of key importance to understand the mechanisms at the basis of a wide variety of physical processes, from high energy density physics and fusion science to the development of ultrafast laser plasma devices to control laser-generated particle beams. Target normal sheath accelerated (TNSA) proton radiography represents an ideal tool to diagnose ultrafast electromagnetic phenomena, providing 2D spatially and temporally resolved radiographs with temporal resolution varying from 2-3 ps to few tens of ps. In this work we introduce the proton radiography technique and its application to diagnose the spatial and temporal evolution of electromagnetic fields in laser-driven capacitor coil targets.

Date Published: 20 February 2017
PDF: 7 pages
Proc. SPIE 10328, Selected Papers from the 31st International Congress on High-Speed Imaging and Photonics, 103280U (20 February 2017); doi: 10.1117/12.2270530

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 10328:
Selected Papers from the 31st International Congress on High-Speed Imaging and Photonics
T. Goji Etoh; Hiroyuki Shiraga, Editor(s)