Time-resolved measurements of hot-electron equilibration dynamics in high-intensity laser interactions with thin-foil solid targets

Phys Rev Lett. 2012 Feb 24;108(8):085002. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.108.085002. Epub 2012 Feb 22.

Abstract

Time-resolved K(α) spectroscopy has been used to infer the hot-electron equilibration dynamics in high-intensity laser interactions with picosecond pulses and thin-foil solid targets. The measured K(α)-emission pulse width increases from ~3 to 6 ps for laser intensities from ~10(18) to 10(19) W/cm(2). Collisional energy-transfer model calculations suggest that hot electrons with mean energies from ~0.8 to 2 MeV are contained inside the target. The inferred mean hot-electron energies are broadly consistent with ponderomotive scaling over the relevant intensity range.